Harry Potter, The New Dark Lord
by echo27fire
Summary: Things change drastically for Harry after 5th year. Daphne Greengrass approaches him for mutual gain. His true ancestry is discovered. Friends are lost, and allies are gained as Harry prepares with new abilities to lead a war. Not only against Voldemort, but against the world as his darker side is discovered. uber-rich, powerful, and dark Harry.
1. The First Letter

**The New Dark Lord**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_. I'm merely fiddling around with things. So please, don't send your fancy dressed people after me with their funny worded documents and bad haircuts.

**Authors Note: **This story/chapter had been adopted from _Sleep When Your Dead_. I'm keeping most of the original story as the first author wrote it. I've made a few of my own changes and additions around the original work.

**Chapter 1: The First Letter**

Daphne Greengrass was a pureblood witch born to Nathanial and Erlinda Greengrass. She had grown from a child into a beautiful young woman, much like her mother. She was 5' 7" tall with long blonde hair that traveled neatly down her back. She had a wonderful figure that screamed sexuality. Her hips were wide, but not overly so, just right with a firm and well-rounded butt. Her breasts were large but proportionate to her body and attracted her, much unwanted attention.

At Hogwarts, she had earned a reputation for being cold, uncaring, and sometimes mean. Males who were foolish enough to make a move on her or stare too long at her… assets, would find themselves hexed. In the process, she had sent 23 boys to the infirmary over the years. That number did not include repeat offenders. One of these offending males was none other than one Ronald Weasley.

Ron Weasley had attempted to ask her to the Yule ball during her fourth year. He had made the move because, according to him _'the veela turned me down, the bookworm who's lying about having a date won't go with me, and you're in Slytherin so, you have to be a whore, will you go to the ball with me?'_ that may not have been exactly what he said. It was however, implied. She had promptly slapped him and banished him into a wall. She may, or may not have also hexed him with a spell that would painfully constrict his man bits for a few days. Apparently, he never told his friends about the attempt.

She had refused him for several reasons with the first reason being he insulted her. What was more was her attraction to money, and power. Like many other pureblood witches, the attractiveness of a mate was third to how much money and influence they had to themselves and their name. Weasley had none of the above. There was one boy had all of the above, even if he didn't know it.

The boy in question was Harry Potter. The Potter family was one of the oldest lines in England and had always been strong in name, wealth, and power. Unlike some other families, they had not one generation of squibs in the line. That may have something with the family having a habit of marrying muggle-borns and half-bloods. Though the family had considerable pull to it as well as political power, they hardly used it.

They were also one of, if not the wealthiest family in England. Many people had attempted to figure of exactly how much, but they met stonewalling at every turn by the goblins. One family attempted to find out by bribing them with half their family vault, the money was taken and the only answer they received was 'more than you had before'.

Since the time Harry Potter came to Hogwarts, he was a puzzle to the young Slytherin girl. He had money but dressed in rags that made him look below a Weasley. He also had power from his family and fame but refused that too, perhaps it was a family trait. No matter the reason, he had everything Daphne wanted, and he was incredibly attractive. The three things Daphne looked for in a mate. The three things a pureblood woman looked for.

Her family had a reputation for being dark and her parents wanted her contracted with one such family. The contract they wanted was, according to her father a move to form alliances with likeminded families. Daphne loved her family but marriage for them was something she ever wanted. She would marry for herself first, then family. It was because of these she was able to make a deal with her father. Though they wanted her to marry into the dark, a union with the house of Potter would not be rejected.

Putting a plan in action to attempt to snag him, or at the very least get to know him and then snag him, she sent him a letter requesting to meet with him.

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><p>Harry Potter was angry, no furious; actually, there was no word for what he was feeling right now. Beneath all the anger and rage, a deep hollow sadness resonated. Along with its ebbing flow was a sinister dark beat. With each rise of the tide, the beat grew stronger and its roots took further hold upon his heart.<p>

His godfather, Sirius Black, had died less than a week ago in an attempt to rescue him. The only father figure he had, died because of his own carelessness, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Lord Voldemort. He himself was also partially responsible. Harry was fooled by a vision sent to get him to 'rescue' his godfather and in the process retrieve the prophecy for the death eaters and their 'lord'.

Harry led five other students into the Department of Mysteries to rescue his godfather. Instead, the trap triggered leading the six students to fight for their lives. They held their own for a short while but were eventually captured until help from the Order of The Phoenix arrived. They had captured every death eater but Bellatrix who sent Sirius through the veil before fleeing into the main atrium of the ministry. Harry had chased her down there and cast the cruciatus curse upon her.

The cruciatus curse was an unforgiveable, one of three. The use of it on another human resulted in a life sentence to Azkaban. Though the curse failed, harry enjoyed it. The thought of causing this woman such suffering pleased him in some unknown way. He was unable to take further pleasure from it as Voldemort arrived.

His arrival resulted in a duel between his headmaster and the dark lord. The battle between the two great forces was enchanting. The feats of magic those two titans were capable of inspired fear and awe. The two were fairly matched until the dark lord decided to possess him. The agony of the experience was immense. It felt as if your entire body was on fire while being stretched from the inside by a great pressure. Every nerve in his body was actively broadcasting pain until he was somehow able to expel his foe.

The aftermath of the encounter had been hazy. When the battle was finished and the minister realized the truth, he was portkeyed away and then told it was his destiny to kill the dark lord. He didn't remember much more after that than arriving at his summer prison. During that time the anger at Bellatrix, Sirius, Dumbledore, and his fate boiled within him along with all the sadness that riddled his life.

A fresh stream of tears started to flow at the loss of his godfather. On a cloudless day for such a normal neighborhood, Harry would normally be out of his small normal room, doing normal chores and yard work. Between the threat of Mad-eye to the Dursleys and the evil look he had glued to his face between tears he was hardly bothered. If this was a normal summer, he held no illusions that his so-called relatives would be dead by now.

Harry was disturbed from his thoughts with a tapping at his window. The tapping often singled an owl with a message for him. Opening the window, he let the bird in. This owl was not from his friends, as he didn't recognize it. Cautiously taking the letter, he opened it and read. At the same time, the owl left, presumably returning to its owner.

_Dear Harry,_

_I'm aware we've hardly spoken two words to each other in our five years of school. I'm writing to you now because I have a proposition for you. _

_I believe that I can help you, and at the same time myself. If you could make it to Diagon Alley, next Monday, please let me know as soon as possible. I believe it's in our best interests to get to know one another._

_Should you decide to come, meet me in front of Gringotts at 9 am._

_Daphne Greengrass_

'_The Ice Queen of Slytherin has graced me with a message' _thought Harry. "What do _you_ think Hedwig?" he said, turning to his first friend when he entered the world of magic.

"Hoot," replied his owl. Unlike other owls Harry encountered, Hedwig was incredibly intelligent. When he was locked away at Number 4, she was often the only source of 'intelligent' conversation. Often he would pass the time in his dark cell just talking to her.

"You think I should go?" he asked, he chuckled lightly as Hedwig gave another lively hoot.

Smiling at the antics of his feathered friend, he grabbed a piece of parchment and started his reply.

_Ms. Daphne Greengrass_

_I was more than surprised when I received your letter. Your reputation is well known and I must admit some curiosity for your correspondence. Normally such random mail would go unanswered. I must admit, in addition to your letter, I find yourself to be quite a fascinating individual given your behavior at school._

_If I can escape, meeting you next Monday is acceptable. Instead of meeting in front of Gringotts, meet me in the front hall near the tellers. Perhaps a private room would be best for this business you wish to discuss._

_Harry Potter_

"Here you go Hedwig, take this to Daphne Greengrass." he said handing the letter to Hedwig who took off into the sunset.

As she left, Harry watched her ever-shrinking form as she delivered his reply. After a while of looking out the window, he went to his bed and drifted sleep. In his dream world, he was only tormented further by the problems he faced in the waking world. There was only so much more Harry Potter could take, and betrayal was not one of them.


	2. Gringotts

**The New Dark Lord**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_. I'm merely fiddling around with things. So please, don't send your fancy dressed people after me with their funny worded documents and bad haircuts.

**Authors Note: **This story/chapter had been adopted from _Sleep When Your Dead_. I intend to keep the keep the story close to how it was originally written by the original author with some changes of my own.

**Authors Note 2: Chapter Updated as of 6-27-2011** amount in Harry's fortune changed.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2: Gringotts<strong>

Harry woke up the next morning with tears in his eyes. His sleep was plagued by more of his nightmares. Scenes of the death of Cedric and Sirius invaded his dreams. The previous summer he had dreamt of Cedric dying, the guilt of his death weighed heavily on Harry. This summer it was the loss of both years plaguing his sleep.

Getting out of Bed Harry noticed there was a letter waiting for him on his desk. Getting up to see who it was from he noticed it bore the official seal of Gringotts bank. Curious as to why he was getting mail from goblins he opened it and read.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_You are required to be at Gringotts Bank today at 1 pm. Your presence is required as a benefactor in the Last Will and Testament of Lord Sirius Orion Black. We are unaware of your means of travel so to ensure your prompt arrival this letter is also a portkey. The portkey function will activate as 12:55 pm and take you to the room where the reading will be held._

_Because of the importance of this will reading it will be presided over by Ragnok, Director of Gringotts_

_Crazefart, Head of Inheritance and Wills department_

Harry read the letter a few more time to make sure he fully understood it. He did not know much about goblins, even with Binns spewing endless rebellions, but he knew you did not want to offend Ragnok. As the director of the bank, he was also one of the goblin leaders, the goblin King.

Harry was interrupted from his thoughts with another owl. This one he recognized as one of the Hogwarts owls. The neat script addressing it to him confirmed it was form the headmaster.

_Harry,_

_You must stay in the house at all times. You may not leave for any reason unless it is for your own safety. Do not worry about the reading of Sirius' will; I will go in your place. This is to keep you safe and protected._

_Albus Dumbledore._

Harry was furious after reading the short note. This was his war; it was up to him, if the prophecy was believed, to end it. How _dare_ Dumbledore keep him from Sirius' will? As his anger flared to life once more, a chilling black aura flared for a brief moment around Harry. Harry failed to notice it as he stewed in the mash of Dumbledore's words.

Forcefully tossing the letter in the trash Harry got ready for the will reading. He was able to sneak out of his room and take a quick shower before returning to his room. There Harry put on some of his best robes he had, the only pair and looked at the clock. The current time was 12: 50; he still had a few more minutes. Using the short amount of time he had left he made himself presentable and grabbed the latter waiting for it to take him to Gringotts.

At 12:55 pm exactly, he felt the familiar pull of a portkey as it activated. Only a few short moments later he was on the floor with a goblin staring down at him. The room was quite small and looked nothing like were a will would be read. Getting up Harry dusted himself off and turned to the goblin.

"I'm here for the will reading of Lord Sirius Black," said a polite but firm Harry.

"Name please?" asked the goblin. The creature was obviously quite bored dealing with humans.

"Harry Potter," he answered.

"Follow me, please." The goblin then led him to a set of doors reflecting Gringotts and opened them. The room beyond was made from white marble floor and fine wood paneling. In the center of the room was a large oak table befitting room for 20, though it was hardly full. The only people present were Remus, Tonks, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Mrs. Weasley, Draco Malfoy, and Mrs. Malfoy. Sitting behind the table was another goblin and a framed portrait of Sirius.

Harry was about to walk over and join his friends when he heard Ron say, "I can't wait until I get some gold. It's about time I get compensated for Potter nearly getting me killed so much. I deserve a little something."

Harry didn't believe what his '_friend'_ said. Since boarding the Train all those years ago, Ron was his first and closest friend. Though they had their moments, he never thought Ron would betray him over some gold. Perhaps that was what Ron was all about though as Harry remembered their fight over the tri-wizard tournament. Harry was about to tear into his former friend when the bushy haired witch next to him spoke up.

"Ronald!" she hissed. "Does Harry's friendship mean so little to you?"

"Well, yeah… it's not like he's good for anything besides winning the quidditch cup or getting me attacked by giant brains or running into a spider den." with that his former friend shuddered heavily.

Harry was furious and his heart broken. To calm himself down, he scanned the reactions of other people present curious of the take. Dumbledore had a sparkle to his eye that spoke of some hidden victory, while Mrs. Weasley was drooling with greed next to him. Tonks' eye color flared to a wicked red as she and Remus restrained the urge to throttle the offending ginger to death. In Remus' eyes, he saw a deep rage billowing, probably part of the werewolf within him, howling to tear into the offender of his pack. Malfoy looked partially confused and victorious when he and his mother spotted Harry in the room. His mother's eyes shined with amusement, a smile playing at her lips.

"I can't believe I was ever friends with you Ronald!" said Hermione as she glared broadswords into his skull. Shortly after, she looked in the opposite direction and shifted her seat away from their former friend.

Harry was about to say something when another spoke again. This time it was a goblin saying, "This is the last will and testament of Lord Sirius Orion Black, as everybody present?

Dumbledore stood up with a grin on his face, "Mr. Potter will not be here. He told me I may act on his behalf."

"Like hell I did!" shouted Harry while still enraged with Ron's betrayal. "I did not give this man any authority to act on my behalf," Growled Harry to the goblin.

Hermione stared and him and was about to admonish him for his outburst when he killed her argument with a murderous glare. By this point, all of the color was gone from Dumbledore. Even his bright purple and teal robes with crazy looking crescent moons looked as if they had been bleached. Dumbledore turned around and saw a very angry Harry Potter before him.

"Harry, what are you doing here? You were supposed to stay at your aunts for safety!" said the still very pale headmaster.

"I came for an event I was required to attend," said a thunderous Harry, "That's what I'm doing here!" Turning to the goblin, who he presumed by now was Ragnok, "can we continue the reading please?" he said politely.

The goblin nodded and continued. "All attend," he said formally, "this is the last will and testament of Lord Sirius Orion Black."

When the goblin ceased speaking the portrait of Sirius started, "I Sirius Black, of sound mind, body, and soul, say this to be my last will and testament."

"To Remus Lupin, I leave 20 million galleons and the house at Grimmauld place. Do what you want with it, just promise to get rid of that forsaken portrait, okay?"

"Next, to Nymphadora ha you can't hit me Tonks," although the painted image of Sirius did duck behind a chair in the portrait for a moment before returning. Meanwhile Tonks was giving the portrait a cold glare for mocking her from the beyond. "I leave you 20 million and a bit of advice, go for him he's worth the trouble," he said with a wink, and a small blush came to Tonks' face.

The portrait of Sirius then turned to the Malfoys and sighed while shaking his head.

"Narcissa, I cannot nor will not give you anything before certain… assurances, are made. Firstly, leave your husband, and I hope, save yourself. Next, you must swear an unbreakable vow to the next Lord Black, details will be provided should you go through with the previous arrangement. After you have done both, and the goblins will verify this, I leave you 10 million gallons. Another requirement is you must not have the mark."

"To Draco, I leave you the same offer and 3 million gallons. Don't blindly follow your father and his morals. Doing so will bring nothing but your own death," said a sad Sirius.

Narcissa looked like she was seriously considering the offer. Draco on the other hand looked like he was, well as he usually did with a sneer supper glued to his face. It didn't look like he was considering the offer.

"To Andromeda Tonks, whom I'm sure is not here because well, anyway, I lever her 20 million and reinstate her into the House of Black, and Tonks too, pending approval of the next Lord Black."

When the portrait released this bit of news Tonks released a low girly squeal of delight while her hair turned a bright fluorescent pink.

Finally, the will portrait turned to Harry.

"To Harry Potter, I leave you everything else. This includes being the next Lord Black, making you an adult, and the rest of the Black family assets. To everyone else I will allow Harry, as Lord Black to decide what you receive. This concludes the reading of my will." After that, the image of Sirius went to sleep.

By the end of the reading Remus had a small smile on his face with a small stream of tears flowing. Harry also saw Molly, and especially Ron looking at him with a greedy look in their eyes.

"Mr. Potter, to become the new Lord Black you will have to sign," said the goblin politely while handing Harry several pieces of parchment.

Harry took the paper and was about to sign when Dumbledore quickly stood up, causing his chair to recoil, and said, "Harry, I command you to Stop! You must not sign those papers!"

Harry turned to him and gave him a murderous glare as his aura flared from a second time. This instance was much longer and was easily visible to all present. Everybody's eyes widened in fear at the power he was showing. An aura in in witch or wizard below the age of 100 was rare, so rare as to be close to impossible. It took great focus or agitation to cause an aura to flare up and they only did so between two great dueling masters. Small children could produce one but only in the most extreme situations often times resulting in the death of the child's parents or other trauma.

"Why should I listen to you? All I've gotten from you is a miserable life! So, give me one good reason to listen now?" Harry's voice was cold and angry.

"Signing that document will cause the wards that protect you to fall! Should they fall, your family will be open to attack," said Dumbledore with that damn twinkle in his eye. The thought it had worked until he saw the look on Harry's face as he picked up a quill.

"Where do I sign," asked Harry.

"Right here," replied the goblin pointing to several placed on the document. The expression of the goblin could best be described as gleeful.

As Harry signed, the other party members looked on witnessing the drama around a simple signature. Remus and Tonks were about to stop Harry to keep him safe and prevent him from endangering himself. Hermione looked on in horror as he was signing a death warrant for his relatives as Ron and molly simply looked indifferent. Draco had a look on his face as he thought about how his signature would bring down Harry's own downfall. Narcissa looked torn between the others, but mostly indifference as she observed with rapt attention.

When Harry finished signing the document he looked to a pale and defeated Dumbledore, "I said give me a good reason fool. Guess what, that was the worst thing you could have said. Why should I help them when they are the worst people imaginable! I have never called them, or that place, family or a home!"

Harry turned back to the goblin who was now taking delight in the entertainment. "As the new lord black please give Fred and George Weasley 10,000 galleons for businessfor business expenses." Harry then said something that erased the bubbling greed from the Weasleys, "I want you to give Ron Weasley 30 sickles, and to Molly 1 Knut," he finished with a smirk. Ron clearly didn't understand the significance as he looked on blindly in joy at getting something; before it registered, it wasn't gold.

"You can't do that!" screamed Ron. He risked his life for the scrawny boy; he deserved more than a paltry sum.

"I just did, or did you not think I heard your comments earlier! Do you always talk without checking who's listening in?" Harry yelled at Weasley. "I thought you were my friend but as a traitorous bastard that's more than you deserve!"

Now that the reading was over and that there would be no more entertainment the other members of the party left. Harry was half-surprised that Draco did not freak at his being named Lord Black. Before Hermione left, she gave Harry a strange look he failed to identify, as did Remus and Tonks.

Once everybody had left, Harry turned to the goblin and asked, "Did my parents ever have a will?"

The eyes of the goblin widened a little as he frowned, "They did, did you not hear it when you turned eleven?"

"Was I supposed to?" asked a concerned Harry. Looking back on it his first trip to the bank did not flow well. He always did wonder why Hagrid of all people had his key.

"Yes!" growled the goblin showing off many sharp teeth. "You were supposed to attend it at age eleven, if not your magical guardian should have informed you."

Harry had a suspicion of who 'failed' to inform him. It was the same person, who, through his own keeping of secrets indirectly killed Sirius. "Who was my guardian," demanded Harry.

Frowning even more the goblin went in search of that information. When it was not present in the documents he had with him, he excused himself to find it. With nobody in the room, it was extremely quiet. Harry patiently waited while he rapped his fingers along the table. It was taking the goblin a long time to return with the bad news. News he was sure what it would be.

After nearly a half hour of waiting the goblin returned. As he arrived, he sat back down in the chair he previously occupied at the head of the table. Well, it would have clearly been the head if it weren't a _round_ table. Harry called it the head because the chair was extremely fancy with rich carvings and bright red cushions with bountiful stuffing. Not the hard solid wood chair Harry found himself in.

As the goblin finished situating himself he read over one of the documents, he returned with one more time to make sure he had the facts.

"According to this, your magical guardian was one Albus Dumbledore," said the goblin.

Harry growled as he asked the next question. Hearing it confirmed only further agitated Harry. Apparently, today was the day that betrayals came out of the woodwork. Harry lost a huge amount of faith in Dumbledore when he kept the prophecy from Harry. Now it was coming out that, Ron was only about money and Dumbledore was keeping his parents will from him, part of his family from him.

"Is it still possible to hear the will?" asked Harry. "Also, isn't it illegal to keep the contents of a will from the beneficiary?"

The goblin smiled evilly as Harry asked the question. Harry almost thought its eyes started to glow as well. "Yes it is illegal, and we will be issuing charges to your DMLE as well as our own punishments. Did Mr. Dumbledore attempt to keep you from the previous Lord Black's will as well?"

"Yes he did, he owled me a short message _ordering_ me to stay at my relatives. Now, about my parents will?"

"The will can still be read, though we will have to audit the contents to make sure nothing was stolen because of Mr. Dumbledore, Lord Black."

"Please, Call me Harry," Harry said to the goblin managing a small smile.

"And you may call me Ragnok, Harry," returned Ragnok with a scary smile.

Ragnok left once more after the exchange. Apparently, like Sirius' will, his parents also had a portrait. They also had two backup wills on parchment; all said the same thing but were in different hands in case of problems. Harry did not have to wait nearly as long this time as after a few minutes Ragnok and four other goblins entered with the portrait. It was similar to Sirius' except the background was done in Gryffindor colors. The furniture of the background was very similar to that of the common room.

Walking into the room the goblins first placed down a stand of the portrait to stand on while they listened. After placing it on the stand Ragnok walked over to it and said "Activate," the will then came to life.

"This is the last will and testament of James Harrison Potter and Lily Rose Potter mind, body, and soul," said his father, James. His representation was dressed in high end, but simple, casual wear. He was also wearing glasses that were almost a carbon copy of Harry's.

"Hello son, if you are hearing this, it means we have moved on. Nicholas Flamel, an old family friend of the Potters, once told me until I have every chocolate frog card I won't move on to the next adventure. The funny thing is he's still looking for his own! We want to let you know that we love you, and we hope you enjoy your life, no matter what happens," said his mother lovingly, but with a sad smile.

The sad smile of his mother's portrait was nothing compared to Harrys. There was only one way Harry could ever hear his parent's voices. That method was to get close and feel the full effects of a dementor as it forced him to relive his mother getting slain. Now he had a new method in the form of their portrait.

"Hey Lilly, I know you like talking but this is my will too… ouch! What was that for?" said portrait James while rubbing his arm where Lilly had hit him.

"Anyway, we hope you're enjoying life and doing well in your studies," said Lilly after her assault on James.

"Also don't forget to play plenty of quidditch, pranks, and have load of girlfriends. Also, history class is a good time to get drunk… ouch! Fine, don't get drunk in history of magic!" said James while Lilly slapped his arm again.

"What your father intended to say before he went off topic," said Lilly as she glared and growled at James. Harry was glad it was not directed at him, it made McGonagall's disapproving expression look like a brilliant smile. "Is that we leave everything to you. This includes a philosopher's stone given to us by Nicholas. If you're curious as to why he gave us one, details are in the Potter vault."

Harry blanked out after his mother mentioned a philosopher's stone. The stone was an immensely powerful object. It was capable to make the drinker immortal, so long as he drunk the elixir of life and it also allowed the possessor to make gold. With it, you could live forever and have as much money you needed. There was only one known creator of the stone, and that was Nicholas Flamel. As far as Harry was aware he only made one, and it was destroyed in his first year after the encounter with Voldemort's specter.

In the aftermath of the incident, Dumbledore had told Harry that the stone was destroyed with the agreement of Nickolas, and that he would soon die. Harry assumed he was now dead, but if he made more than one and was a friend of the Potters and his parents, he needed to find out.

Harry was still unaware of anything else as his father contained to speak, "To Nicholas, longtime friend of the Potter's and Lilly and I, we leave him every chocolate frog card we have at the time of our death, including one of him. To Remus and Sirius, we leave you each 1 million gallons. To Sirius we also leave guardianship of Harry. To St. Mungo's we leave 2 million galleons for the express use of maintaining the hospital and buying any equipment or supplies that might be needed."

Shaking his head from his stupor, Harry was able to hear the next part and become even more furious. "Should Sirius be unable to look after Harry, he is to be placed among a wonderful wizarding family. Our son is not, and this is critical, to be placed with the Dursley's no matter what, regardless of any factors or parties."

After that and some tearful goodbyes and last well wishes, the portrait stopped. One of the last wishes included him getting drunk in history again from his father. He was quickly silenced after that and his mother said she hope he enjoyed life and found a nice girl. It took a few moments for Harry to compose himself after the will. Hearing his parents' voices outside of a dementor was rough.

After the will reading was complete and Harry had composed himself, he asked if they could perform the ritual. While they were waiting, Harry would be presented with a list of properties he owned.

"We may perform the ritual," said Ragnok, "All we need is several drops of your blood. Follow me please"

Harry did as the goblin King said and followed him from the room. They went down a long corridor until they came to a stop at a nondescript door. Opening it, they stepped inside. The room was taller than there was floor space. On the opposite side of the door lay a large contraption.

The device was at least 17 feet tall and resembled a bastardized typewriter. At the bottom, resting in a place setting was a large stack of white marble 'sheets'. They appeared to be the same proportions as a normal piece or parchment but much larger. Above the first page was the typing mechanism, which was then attacked to a large barrel via hose. The barrel, what appeared to be a 55-gallon drum, was then connected via three hoses to three larger glass tanks.

On one side of the room, a large stairway led up to catwalks above the tanks so they could be refilled. The middle one was filled with a large clear substance while the other two were different. The left tank was filled with thick viscous syrup that was silver in color with teal and white streaks running through it. The other was grey with red and black streaks running through it and was much thinner.

"Please take this knife and make a large cut along your wrist," said a goblin as he handed Harry a knife and presented a bowl.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the request, "This won't kill me will it?" he asked.

"The cut will heal when the bowl is filled," said the goblin as it rolled its eyes as if it was the most obvious thing ever. Anticipating the human's next question the goblin continued, "Neither will you run out of blood."

Not trusting the goblin, but not seeing any alternatives Harry did as asked. Harry felt no pain as the small blade sliced through his skin freeing his crimson life force. It did not take long to fill the bowl as it poured like a waterfall from the cut. Soon it was full and the cut sealed.

Satisfied, the nameless goblin walked up to the catwalk and dumped it into the middle, clear, liquid. The fluid instantly took on the characteristics of Harry's blood. The goblins, Ragnok included, became alarmed when the unexpected happened. Once the clear liquid was fully claimed his blood split into three distinct parts. Part was blood red, part clear, and parts were sickly green.

The goblins were alarmed until the machine started. With a thunderous sound, it began to 'type' at a breakneck pace. The machine was writing into the marble with such force the room shook. Harry was surprised the stone didn't shatter. They watched the machine continue to type for a few moments and Harry attempted to translate what it was saying but was unable as it typed in runes.

"The process will take some time as it finishes and the tablets translated," said Ragnok. "Let us return to the room so we may continue our business."

Harry nodded and followed the King back to the room previous. There they got down to the properties and finances of one Harry Potter.

_Total value of the Potter estate: 7,870,328,375 galleons_

_Properties: #7 Godrics Hollow, Potter Manor, Azkaban Island, #4Privit Drive (in trust to Petunia Dursley), Knockturn Alley, and Hogwarts._

_Business Shares include:_

_27% Ollivander's Wands_

_25% Flourish and Blotts Bookshop_

Harry was thoroughly confused and shocked. He had _a lot_ of money; more then he would ever know what to do with. What confused him was the fact that he owned Azkaban, Privet Drive, Knockturn Alley, and Hogwarts. When asked, Ragnok, explained.

Azkaban Island was apparently designed and built by the Potters long ago. It was originally an ocean-based fortress until the ministry took an interest in it. It was then, after negotiations, loaned to the ministry for use as a prison on the condition that the Potter's were exempt from taxation. Since then the Potters never paid a gallon in taxes. However, they still paid some to support places like St. Mungos.

#4 was a different matter. Before his parents went into hiding, his mother placed it into the trust of her sister. This was done under the condition that the Potter's could reclaim it at any time and she, and any occupants must then vacate. The Potters also completely paid it off but the contracted with Petunia stated that they had to pay the full amount of any applicable payments during their stay there. That made no sense to Harry and made him wonder if his mother had an evil side to her or if it was the goblins at work.

The owning of Knockturn alley was an evil plot by the potters. The owners owned all the businesses on the land but the Potters owned the land. The business owners all paid a flat rate to rent the ground their business were built on. As a condition of renting, the 'space' the Potters would automatically be in for 51% of all businesses in the alley. Such a share allowed them to, if a Potter desired, to close all shops permanently, effectively ending rash use of the Dark Arts for a time.

About an hour later, before Harry and Ragnok could talk further about his holdings, a goblin walked in with a slip of paper. Walking into the room the creature gave a low bow before shakily handing Ragnok the piece of Paper. Ragnok took the piece of paper and started to read. His eyes widened in shock as he read. Harry was curious was to what was wrong until he handed the Paper to Harry who then read it with a similar reaction.

_Harry James Potter_

_Age: 15_

_Date of Birth: 31 July 1980_

_Claimable Vaults and Headships:_

_Grindelwald_

_Ravenclaw_

_Slytherin_

_Gryffindor_

_Abilities:_

_Potential Animagus_

_Parselmouth_

_Mind arts affinity- bound_

'_Photographic memory' –bound_

_Natural Transfiguration Master- bound_

_Natural Charms Master- bound_

_Natural Potions Master- bound_

_Magical Core- Class 9 or greater, 88% bound resulting in binding of higher-level abilities._

"I take it 'bound' is bad?" asked Harry raising an eyebrow. He was curious about the 'master' abilities and photographic memory. He was aware from his time at Hogwarts that to achieve mastery in a field took years of study well past NEWTS.

"Yes it is, I'm honestly surprised you're not dead Harry, such bindings on a powerful wizard such as yourself… well they often kill if they're not removed before age 10," said Ragnok with awe in his voice. Apparently, he was still processing what he read. "We can remove them so you will have full access to your powers however… such a process is quite painful."

"That's fine," said Harry. "Now, what's this about the founders and Grindelwald?"

"That… requires a bit of a story. Slytherin was the strongest of the four. He was deeply involved in the dark arts but he never took a life. That was until his wife, Rowena Ravenclaw, was killed. It was after that he became a Dark Lord. He used his basilisk to hunt down and slay the perpetrators; in the process, he killed a majority of the muggle population of what would be London. He was finally slain in the battle of Hastings, there he begged Godric to take his life." After a silent pause for a moment the goblin King continued. "I believe his ghost is till at Hogwarts, poltergeist actually."

Harry was a little surprised to learn that Slytherin was Peeves. He just hoped that when he defeated Voldemort he never came back as a poltergeist. Thinking about it made sense that Peeves was Slytherin because he hardly ever picked on that house while he terrorized the Gryffindors.

"Interesting story, but it does not explain my heritage."

Ragnok frowned and cut to the chase. It was not often that he was able to tell a story. "Slytherin and Ravenclaw had a son before her death. Before his death, Slytherin begged Godric to raise him away from his own path. That child took on a different name and eventually married Godrics and his wife's daughter."

"Godric never had a son?" inquired Harry. "And just how is it that you know all this if I may ask?"

"They did, but he later died in battle, no children." Ragnok answered his first question.

The second question was a bit more difficult. Apparently, teaching history was a bit more prevalent with the goblins. They kept large volumes of tomes on the subject. Each volume kept extremely detailed records and was often only on one particular subject.

"What about Grindelwald? I always thought he never had children."

"You are correct, he never did," started Ragnok "I believe, though I'd have to confirm, you are his great nephew or some such thing. His brother had a daughter whose daughter then married into the Evans family."

Harry and Ragnok continued to talk about his family history. The son Slytherin and Ravenclaw had, Godric changed his name to Potter after his father's death. The child was only two at the time. Harry was surprised to learn that Godrics wife was not Hufflepuff, but another. Hufflepuff was already married but her husband died before any children. She never remarried nor had any children.

For the skills, Ragnok explained that the mind arts skill simply meant he had, according to the report, natural ability with the mind arts. It was similar for the other skills as well. Harry was slightly excited about being an animagus but at the same time… reluctant. Becoming an animagus was notoriously difficult and long. Often times those who attempted the feet found themselves gravely injured.

Later they went over all his holdings now that they knew all he could claim. It was then explained how he owned Hogwarts, even before he knew he was heir to three of the four founders. Because of the other three never had any children that could claim ownership of the castle, Godric passed on all ownership rights on to Amis Potter, Slytherin's son. Now that he was confirmed the heir to three of the founders, Harry could claim lordship over the castle.

If Harry thought he had an insane amount of money before, it was nothing compared to how much he had now. Each of the founder's vaults had at least 89.7 billion galleons or more. Before the heirs disappeared, they invested wisely resulting in large gains of money. Also in the time they were absent the interest on those vaults earned enough at one point to forge Gringotts to create a larger vault space.

According to the inventory lists, gold was not the only things in the vaults. In the case of Ravenclaw and Grindelwald, it was mostly books and other artifacts. Harry could tell from the titles that almost all of the ones in Grindelwald vault were Dark Arts books. A vast range of titles of such a scope that it was safe to guess no dark magic was left out or neglected by the man or family.

As they finished going over his holdings, Ragnok handed Harry six small black boxes. Opening each one, he discovered they were the rings of Lordship. Most of them were made from either gold or silver and had different markings engraved directly into a stone.

The Potter ring was gold with a dark red stone in the center. Engraved into it was a griffon carrying a shield? The Gryffindor ring was silver. In the center was the same griffon but facing the opposite direction. It also did not carry a shield, but a sword in the same colored stone. The Black ring was also silver. Engraved into what looked like diamond was a crow atop a winged horse. The Ravenclaw ring was silver with a raven perched atop a wand. The stone was a deep, penetrating blue. The Slytherin and Grindelwald rings were both made from gold. In the center of each was a bright green stone, killing curse green. Into the deadly stone was cut a snake and wolf respectively.

As Harry was putting on the rings, a finely dressed goblin came in to speak to Ragnok. They spoke loudly in the goblin language for a few moments until the King turned to Harry. "Gringotts has been closed and we are ready to begin the ritual, follow me."

"Let's get this over with," said Harry as he fell in step behind the goblin. "You never did answer my question about the memory ability, thing." Said Harry

"The simplest way to answer it is magical learning. Once it is unlocked, you should be able to learn magics and other things at an astounding rate, perfectly."

That sounded wonderful. Ever since his possession, losing Sirius, casting the cruciatus, and barely surviving the end of the tri-wizard tournament, he had been feeling dark urges. On top of the knives of betrayal, he was at the edge.

"The ability has a higher rate of appearing in squibs than wizards. The Potter family has a history of the skill however, and powerful family members. Such a combination is usually quite rare."

Ragnok ended just as they turned into the final hallway. They were now deep within Gringotts walls. As they continued, walking Harry got the odd feeling he was being compressed down. The feeling only grew as they walked to the only door in the long hallway, which, only seemed to get longer as they walked.

When they finally reached the door, a waiting Goblin opened it. The inside chamber was round and made from dark granite. The ceiling was flat and followed a ring shape like the rest of the room before doming into the room. The dome came down into the center of the room and there were several shapes around it but he was unable to tell what they were.

As they got closer, the small specks turned into 21 goblins arrayed into a circle. Looking back to the door Harry realized it was farther way then he walked. Ignoring that fact for now, Harry was told to stand in the middle and drink the potion in a beaker on the floor. He grimaced as he swallowed it. It tasted just as it looked, as rotten beef stew with sand thrown in. When he finished drinking the goblins started to chant in gobbledygook.

Soon, a sudden rush of pain filled his entire being as he collapsed into darkness.


	3. Meeting Ms Greengrass

**The New Dark Lord**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_. I'm merely fiddling around with things. So please, don't send your fancy dressed people after me with their funny worded documents and bad haircuts.

**Authors Note: **This story/chapter had been adopted from _Sleep When Your Dead_. I intend to keep the keep the story close to how it was originally written by the original author with some changes of my own. Only the first three chapters are old content with some edits and changes of my own.

**Authors Note 2:** I'm impressed with how fast this story has taken off. Thank you to all the readers and those who have reviewed. I hope you continue to enjoy this story as we travel from the first few chapters, kicking off the story to what lies beyond.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Meeting Ms. Greengrass<strong>

The goblins looked at Harry in awe as he collapsed. His entire being was engulfed in raging energies. The magical power coming from him was like a maelstrom as the full power of his black aura sprang to life in thick torrents. The power was so great that eventually all of Gringotts was plunged into a deep darkness, as the full power of Harry Potter was unleashed from its bindings. As the frightened goblins continued to perform the ritual, Ragnok looked on with a malevolent smile.

After a few moments, the light returned into the building as the ritual was completed. On the floor now lay a different Harry Potter. He was a little taller and more physically fit as his magic itself changed him. Ragnok led to goblins over to conclude the ritual as Harry remained unconscious. It was over 45 minutes for Harry to return to the waking world and a goblin went to notify Ragnok of his change.

The black storms of energies were still around his body for several hours, though they were now a weak glow, than an aura. The goblins were slightly afraid of Harry because now behind his eyes laid deep power. Harry sat up and noticed that he couldn't see properly and asked the closet goblin if they had his glasses.

"Lord Potter, you have your glasses on," whispered the goblin in awe and fear.

Harry frowned and took off his glasses noticing he could see perfectly for the first time as the world came into focus. He looked around for a moment and noticed that while it was better, his vision was still not perfect as far away objects were still blurry. He also noticed that the floor looked farther away than normal. Another change was that his magic was singing to him. He felt it lurking just beneath his skin humming with raw power. He briefly wondered if this was how Voldemort felt as Ragnok was alerted to his waking.

When Ragnok came into the room, he bore a piece of paper and handed it to Harry. "This is the location of the Potter Estate. It is protected by a family fidelius and you are the secret keeper. You should know that the family rings also function as portkeys to the primary manors. Will that be all you require today Lord Potter?"

"Is there a way I can take money out as both muggle and wizard when needed? I do not wish to keep traveling to my vault every time I need to make a withdrawal," said Harry.

"We may provide a muggle banking card that can draw from a muggle bank attached to your Gringotts account. That would work for most muggle shopping needs; we also have weightless self-expanding money bags for all your wizarding currency needs."

After a few more things, Harry asked the goblins for and a conversation with Ragnok, a goblin game in with the items Harry requested. The goblin gave Harry the moneybag, which was already filled, for wizarding money and a muggle debt card for the other world. He was unable to use it right now as it took a few hours to activate. He also left with a muggle ID should he need one.

There was one more issue of setting up a private room next Monday at nine. After the room was booked, Harry prepared to leave. The tapped on potter signet ring before feeling to distinctive pull of portkey travel. After a few moments of traveling through space, Harry landed flat on his ass.

'_There must be a better way of travel,'_ thought Harry, _'I'm sick of landing on my ass.'_

Harry took a moment to look around his surroundings. The room he landed in was decorated in white marble and had several wizarding portraits along the walls. There were also a few statues and upon further inspection, he noted they were of Potter men and woman of renown. Harry briefly wondered if there were any house elf's around before he jumped at the telltale sound of an elf appearing near him.

The elf was similar in stature to Dobby but with an odd grey skin. A few patches of skin were a shad or two off. It had large perky bat ears that took up half its head. For clothing, it wore and elegant pillowcase emblazed with the Potter crest.

"Master Potter, what can Mindy do for you?" said the happy elf.

"Prepare some food, and then show me the master bedroom Mindy," said Harry. "Also retrieve all of my belongings from Number 4 Privet Drive and inform me about the wards around the manor."

"Yes master," replied the elf before popping away.

Mindy returned a short time later after retrieving and putting away all his things. As he ate a light meal, she prepared shortly after she explained the wards to Harry. Though the manor was under a special form of fidelius, the wards were very strong and covered the entire property. According to the elf, the wards were all but impossible to breach. An attacking force would need to spend a week attacking or trying to break the wards.

After a quick meal, Harry went to the bathroom and washed up before bed. There he noticed he was 5' 10'' instead of 5'5'', he also had put on more muscle mass. He was no longer the skinny and frail child. His hair was slightly longer as well, long enough that he needed a trim. After that, Harry went to sleep in the luxurious master bedroom.

The next morning Harry showered and changed shortly after he woke up. A short breakfast later and he was walking out the front door and calling the knight bus to the Leaky Cauldron. Once in the bar he went through the arch and put up his hood. Pausing for a moment, he observed the ally of observers before heading off to Knockturn.

He stepped into the ally and noticed that it was filthy. During his mishap journey thought the ally last time he was more worried about getting out than the scenery. The people in Knockturn were more concerned about keeping their identities hidden and away from the law, then how clean the area was. Harry walked along the ally until he made it to his first destination, Smith's Wand Makers.

The shop in question was a short distance from Borgin and Burkes. The front of the shop was small with only a door and a modest magical stained glass window in the shape of a wand casting a simple '_lumos_'. Though the stained glass window was cleaned, the glass in the door was not as it was caked in dust and other filth. Entering the shop, he walked to the counter and waited.

"What can I do for you sir," said a voice from behind a shelf.

"I would like a personally crafted wand," said Harry.

"We only make wands for Noble pureblood Families," said the gruff voice. "You certainly do not look like you're from a Noble family so be gone!"

"You better get down here now and serve me, or you won't have a shop to sell your wands from," Harry replied angrily.

"Who do you think you are threatening me like that!" said the voice again and a tall man came walking out from the back.

"Lord Black," Harry hissed in reply.

"I need proof," countered the skeptical man. He was about five foot seven and wore clothing similar to what a blacksmith would wear. His black dragon hide apron was covered in multi colored stains. Under this, he wore a simple, heavy brown shirt that was also stained in addition to several tears and holes.

"Here's your proof," he lifted his right hand to the man exposing the Black signet ring and watched the man's eyes widen.

"I apologize for my rudeness before, Lord Black," the man said quickly.

"May we get started now? I haven't got all day," Harry hissed again.

"Yes my Lord, first we need to pick the type of wood. Walk over there and put your hand over them, pick the one that you feel is right for you," said the man.

Harry walked over and after five minutes, he came a block of wood that matched him, "this one feels the best," he said picking it up.

The man seemed slightly worried as he saw what wood he picked "Cypress wood, said to represent eternal life and the sacred wood of Hades 'the unseen'," Said the shopkeeper. "Now all you need as a core for your wand. You _may_ have more than one, in that case its best to sue one liquid to one solid or grounded ingredient."

Staring at the man for a moment with narrowed eye, Harry walk to the liquid ingredients. He passed over them until one gave him a violent shock. He picked it up and continued until another shock the same as the first. He picked up that one as well, and then went over to the powdered items. When he reached the middle, he felt drawn towards two items. One was a black powder of some kind while the other looked like some type of skin. Harry took the three cores over to the man who promptly fainted once eyeing them. Getting pissed off Harry whipped his wand out and cast ennervate.

"Hurry up and tell me what they are and what else I need to do," said Harry to the now awake and standing man.

"Ok, the first one is the liquefied heartstrings of a seven hundred year old basilisk," the man saw his confusion as to why they were liquefied. "Basilisk heartstrings must be liquefied with their venom or they will be unsuitable. The next liquid is blood from a unicorn, forcibly taken. The powder you chose is phoenix ashes; the other a combination of things. Mainly it's powdered phoenix feather and basilisk eyes. The rest of the work is up to me, my Lord. It will take about an hour to make the wand, come back then, Lord Black," Harry was told.

With a nod, Harry walked out of the shop and walked to Borgin & Burke's shop. With the sharp sound of a bell, Harry entered the shop. Once inside he walked to the counter and the person behind it, who he knew to be Borgin. He knew that because of his previous… journey down the alley.

"I want all of your books on the mind arts, dark arts, charms, transfiguration, and dueling," he ordered.

Borgin eyed the hooded man before him with suspicion. The nature of his business meant that he hardly ever received a customer he didn't already know, or was recommended to him. "You're not an auror are you?" he asked.

"No, I'm not. Now hurry up, before I crucio you," he hissed.

Borgin left the counter of the shop as he went to fill the request. As he did this, Harry looked around the shop. Like the rest of Knockturn, the store was filthy and dusty. The shop was crammed with various shelves that held many items of the dark arts. Some of the floor space was occupied by larger items. One object was a large sarcophagus that tortured the occupant with the cruciatus curse, but was made specifically to keep them sane. It could only be opened by whoever shut it and had space to feed and water the occupant to keep them alive. Part of the torture was also that it forced them to eat and drink so the victim could not starve to death unless their torturer allowed it.

"Ok, here are your books you have asked for, is that all?" Borgin said still with fear in his voice.

"How much for the sarcophagus and do you have any more?" Harry asked pointing to the torture item.

Borgin looked to the item in question and spurted a number, "750 gallons for the one. I have six more in back for the same price." Harry nodded in agreement.

"279 galleons and 47 sickles for the books and 5,250 gallons for the sarcophagi," he said quickly.

"I will give you only give you 3250 for everything, no more," Harry said, releasing his black aura to intimidate Borgin.

"That's fine 3250 it is!" Borgin said quickly. Smirking, Harry handed the filth his gold and left the store. He was impressed at the vast amount of books Borgin sold him. There were so many in fact, they had to be placed in a special trunk to hold them all. The trunk along with the sarcophagi were shrunken down and placed in his inside robe pocket. He had to place several featherweight charms because while his cargo was small, it still weighted a ton.

Harry left the shop and went up the street again to collect his wand. Entering the shop, he noticed the man with a great big smile on his face.

"What are you so happy about?" Harry asked.

"This is one of the best wands I have ever crafted. This wand will be excellent for just about every branch of magic. Here, try it my lord." that was the wrong thing to say because as soon as he handed Harry the wand it was pointed towards him.

"_Crucio_," Harry hissed, and the man dropped down to the floor screaming in pain as Harry kept the torture curse on him for two minutes.

"_That_ was for your disrespect this morning, and there's the money for the wand," Harry said and chucked 800 gallons on the counter, and left the store. He probably over paid given the rude behavior of the wandmaker but felt the extra money was suitable compensation for such a fine wand. Harry could feel it channel his power much better than his Holly wand.

'_Time for a new wardrobe'_ he thought walking out of Knockturn ally and over to Madam Malkin's for some robes. He ended up buying many robes, traveling cloaks, and a few battle robes. Leaving the robe shop, he left Diagon through the Leaky Cauldron for muggle London. There he bought some muggle attire, nothing too fancy as he would manly wear it at home to relax.

Four hours later Harry returned to Potter Manor with the days purchases. He placed the sarcophagi in the basement and ordered the elves not to go near them unless asked to. While he was putting his new items away, he found the library. The manor library was filled with vast amounts of books. Seeing the room brought thoughts of his friends and their betrayals. He would deal with them later and make sure they suffered.

For the next week, Harry trained, learning about his new abilities and powers. By the end of the week, he had a fair amount of knowledge absorbed. The photographic memory was extremely handy to recall information perfectly, but to read and learn it as well. Of the large amount of books he purchased he was about a quarter of the way through. He had not even touched the books that were already there. However, with the magical memory, as he had taken to calling it, he could remember each book, perfectly. He did not bother learning every spell he came across, as there was too many variations.

Harry was surprised that he received no mail from any of his friends during that time. He still expected Remus, Tonks, Hermione, and a few others to send him something. He thought it probably had something to do with the wards around the house but didn't feel like fixing the problem. Harry was content for the moment to throw himself in his studies.

Sunday night, Harry was reading one of the dark arts books, learning some useful curses he wanted to try out the next time he ran across his former friends. After finishing the chapter he was reading, he got up and went to bed thinking about the meeting tomorrow with the Ice Queen of Slytherin.

Morning arrived and Harry got up and dressed for his meeting. He was wearing black robes with a dark silver trim. The robes were one of his more expensive sets as they were made from fine acromantula silk. From his studies, he had learned how to make a portkey and used one to take him just outside of Gringotts. He would prefer to use apparition but was hesitant to learn without an instructor to help him if he splinched. Looking around first to see that nobody was watching him he quickly entered the bank. Walking to a counter he asked the goblin if he could have a quick word with Ragnok.

"Right this way Lord Potter" replied the goblin.

"Actually, I prefer to go by Lord Black, for now," Harry told the goblin. As he was heir and head to five families he could use or be addressed by any of them. His legal name would never change however. This causes quite a problem signing legal documents, as he needed to use _Lord Harry James Potter Black Slytherin Ravenclaw Grindelwald._ This took up more room than was on the document usually. While it was not his legal name, he was recognized as the head to them and all must be acknowledged. It was confusing to be honest with so many names he could use.

The Goblin acknowledged his request and led him to Ragnok. The office he was led to was not the same one used during the will reading. The door to the office was made from two twelve foot sections made from solid oak. The door looked slightly disproportionate, as the handles were too low for a human to use. The surface of the door was beautifully carved with the Gringotts crest.

The goblin opened the door and announced him as he was led in. The inside was very opulent. The floor and walls were made from fine wood with dark staining that looked to be immaculate. The floor was only briefly noticed as most of the floor was covered by a large Persian rug. Along the far wall from the door was a large ornate desk. Behind the desk say Ragnok, and behind him was a large skull of a creature he was unfortunately familiar with, a basilisk skull.

"Harry, I wasn't expecting you till after your meeting this morning," said Ragnok from behind his desk.

"I was up early and decided that it would be a good idea to sort out business straight away," answered Harry.

"Indeed, business is best done early for maximum profit," here Ragnok grinned evilly.

"Anyway," said Harry as he sat in a seat the chief motioned to, "I want to buy a couple of companies, first is the Daily Prophet. The next is the butter beer company if you can. In addition to some of the other business in Diagon Alley, if possible," Harry said before he handed Ragnok a list with all the acquisitions he planned to make. "On the list are also several muggle pharmaceutical companies that I _must_ have."

"I will see what we can do for you, the first one might be a problem, but we might be able to blackmail the Prophet owners. However, the butter beer company is going on auction as well as the rest of the other Malfoy businesses due to Lucius Malfoy's recent incarceration at Azkaban. The whole lot is going for 4 million galleons at this moment in time, and the only people you have to be worried about are the ministry who said they will only go up to 8 million for the lot," said Ragnok.

"How much profit does the lot make in a year?" Harry questioned. He was aware after some research that the Malfoy family was so rich because they owned a majority of the butter beer company along with several other notable businesses. It was because of these companies he was able to bribe so many officials without wasting his coffers.

"Around 10.7 million galleons, but with the bribes that the Malfoy's were involved with they cut that down to less than 1 million a year," replied Ragnok after looking up a few documents.

Harry thought about it a moment before coming up with something that would for sure irk the ministry. "Okay, each time the ministry places a bid, bet one gallon over that price, and at the last moment place a bid of 9 million galleons," said Harry.

"As you wish Lord Potter," said Ragnok.

"I told you to call me Harry, and I'm going by Black for now," said Harry. _'What is it with goblins and titles'_ thought Harry.

"My apologies, but during negotiations we always use the title of who we are dealing with," said Ragnok. "Most humans also insist we use their titles."

They spend several more minutes discussing what businesses to buy out. The goblins wanted him to buy out WWW, but Harry refused for now. Molly and Ron were dead to him but not the rest of the Weasleys. He refused to ruin their dream to spite them. Later he would eventually sort out the good Weasleys from the bad ones.

Looking at his watch Harry noticed it was 8:55, "I have a meeting to get to now, is that all the business to discuss?" He asked.

"Indeed it is," said Ragnok filing the last of the paperwork.

"Thank you Ragnok," he said as he got up and left the room heading towards the hall where he was meeting Daphne. He was standing there for a couple of minutes when he noticed her, and his very angry white owl.

_'Oh shit I'm in trouble_,' he thought as the white owl took off from Daphne's shoulder and flew to him and started to peck at his head.

"Sorry Hedwig, I forgot about you," that earned him more pecking to his face, "okay will you stop attacking the face? How about I buy a male owl for you?" Saying that got his ear nipped, hard, "Fine, how about all the treats you want and your own house for you?" That did it as the bird landed on his shoulder and rubbed her head against him in a loving way. "I love you to Hedwig," Harry grumbled earning him an enthusiastic hoot.

Looking up he saw Daphne had made her way over and noticed an amused look in her eyes at the antics of the owl towards her person. He started looking up and down her body and cursed the school robes for not showing this perfect figure before now. She was only a few inches shorter than he was; he thought she was about 5 foot 6 or 7. She had beautiful blonde hair falling from her head and neatly down to just past her shoulders. Her face was a nice shape and her eyes where an electric blue, her nose was the right size and her lips; he just wanted to kiss her right there and then. She was wearing a grey top and wizarding jeans that showed off her figure. Her breasts were not large but large enough to draw attention.

Noticing his gaze, she decided to tease him, "Like what you see Potter?" she asked in a very sexy voice.

"Yes I do, and, and I am cursing those bloody school robes for hiding you away from me all these years. Come, I have a private room so we can talk privately," said Harry leading her towards the room that the goblins set up. The room had two chairs around a small round table. On the table was some tea in a large silver, ornate teapot. Along with the pot was two small cups. They walked over to the seats and sat down.

The room itself was quite small although well furnished. Harry though there had to be larger meeting rooms as he couldn't imagine any large business dealings going on in the room. The table the tea was on and the rest of the room looked Victorian in design. The floor was, like the rest of Gringotts, a dark wood. The wallpaper was dark red with interesting patterning. Some parts of the paper looked like it was peeling away or old but was not unattractive or unsightly. In fact, Harry thought it improved the room a way.

"So what do you want to talk to me about, Daphne? I know it's not only to get to know me." Harry decided to penetrate to their reason for meeting.

"Well I..." she paused to think and started again, "Harry, May I call you Harry?" he nodded. "I want power and I went through all the people I know, and decided to see who the most powerful person was in, and around our year, that includes political and financial power. With all my looking, everything pointed to you, even if you are Dumbledore's man," she said. She then noticed an intense black aura come around his body. Her breath caught in her through as the whole room was bathed in darkness.

'_Calm yourself Harry, she didn't know. Just tell her what happened,'_ he thought.

While Harry was thinking that, Daphne was thinking _'Oh shit! What did I say?' _Harry was more powerful than the last time she saw him. The various forms of power he possessed turned her on, it took all her self-control to stop herself from jumping him right there. With some help with the pureblood families politics, and training he could become the next dark lord should he desire and probably win.

She found that attractive as well and became determined to win him over so she could be his dark queen. Coming from a dark family, Daphne was versed in the dark arts. Further, while she and her family were in favor of purebloods and thought the aims of the current dark lord were commendable, they did not approve of them. They supported purebloods not because the belief they were better, but for the traditions that came with them.

"Sorry about that, I lost control for a moment," said Harry as he calmed down. "To let you know, I am not Dumbledore's man, I am my own man. I have the power to become the strongest wizard ever, and with help I will become the strongest wizard there is and conquer the world," He said with an evil glint in his eyes. "The world is an absolute mess, and I intend to fix it."

'_He has already has plans to conquer the world, this is my chance,'_ she thought, "Well in that case, I have a proposition for you; I offer you a marriage contract between us. We will be married for one year, after that if we still want the marriage, it will become permanent or we can go our separate ways. Possibly, even make a new agreement. This deal will help both of us out, first I get what I want which is power..._and you,_" she said, the last a whisper, "You will get proper training in various areas so that you can become stronger and fulfill your goals. Should after one year we decide to marry completely, I will be at your side as your dark queen until we die," she said.

Harry thought he would be daft to let her offer go. She was a gorgeous young woman and while marriage so early bothered him a little, it would only be for a year if it didn't work. He also liked the fact she had been truthful about her intentions. She wanted power and influence, and he had both in spades. While their arrangement would be political, there was no reason it could grow if they got to know each other. He was curious why she was offering however and not somebody like her father.

"Daphne, May I ask you a question?" asked Harry.

Her head shifted ever so slightly to the side before saying, "anything."

"Why are you offering up a contract? I assumed it was usually the father or head of house that dealt with such matters."

Daphne held her cup of tea between her hands and brought it to her mouth taking a short ship before replying, "Normally you would be correct. However, my _father_," she emphasized the word, "decided to grant me emancipation rights so I may form my own contract."

His eyebrows rose taking a sip of his own tea. "May I ask why?"

"I wanted to marry into my own power, he wanted me to marry to form alliances with other families," she paused for a moment taking another sip. "My sister was willing and didn't mind father marrying her off, so he granted me the privilege to marry my own or he would do it for me after five years, should I be unable to find a husband."

"I see," said Harry taking in what she had said. "What about your sister, how does she feel about your arrangement?"

"Harry, I love my father. The only problem I have is he wanting me to marry me off for himself and not me. If my sister were not totally ok with this, we wouldn't be talking right now. Besides, it helps that she's totally smitten with who she's contracted to," she said with controlled laughter in her voice.

Harry had calmly listened to her rationale and thought it over a few moments. She was an incredibly attractive young woman and thought it was in his best interests to get to know her. As a pureblood, she could help him learn more about wizarding customs and coming from a dark family, possibly aid him learning the dark arts and preparing for his eventual conquest. A relationship with her could only be positive for both of them.

"Well Daphne, I think that this will be a beginning of a great relationship, I accept your offer." said Harry. He got up and walked over to her, picking her up so she was level with him he kissed her passionately on the lips. As they separated, they felt a warm sensation wash over them and they saw that both of their auras flared up. While this happened, they began to merge with each other. Instead of Daphne's original grey, her aura steadily got blacker, while Harry's stayed the same apart from small bits of grey. As they broke apart, their auras returned to normal before fading.

"Was that supposed to happen?" he asked Daphne, who had a look of pure joy on her face. She then jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around him while hugging him tightly. "Daphne... can't breathe," he was able to choke out.

"Oh! Sorry Harry, but that was our auras harmonizing! Usually it's a sign of great compatibility between two magical people," she explained. What she did not say right away was it was could also be much more. "It sometimes, also occurs when soul bonds are formed but it lasts much longer then. In the entire wizarding world, there have only been 286 recorded soul bonds. The most famous pairs were the founders of Hogwarts. Regrettably, the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor lines died out because Helga was unable to have children, and the Slytherin line thought to be carried on through his bothers side apparently."

"The Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Gryffindor lines are still alive," Harry, corrected. "You see, Rowena had a son just before she was killed, that was why Slytherin turned into a dark lord. At the time of the battle of Hastings, it was Godric and Salazar having the final battle. When Salazar could not take being away from Rowena anymore, he asked Godric to look after his son and give him a good life without people harassing him because his father was the dark lord, he told him to change his last name to something else," he said going over what he knew.

As he was telling his story, Daphne became intensely interested. She hung on to and committed every word he spoke. It did strike her as a bit odd that he knew this. "Okay Harry, how do you know this?" asked a confused Daphne.

"Well... since we will be getting married, I might as well tell you. Godric ended up raising the boy," explained Harry. "That child eventually married Godrics elder daughter," he said, and then showed her the rings on his fingers, showing the families he is Head and Lord of, "Godric changed his last name to Potter."

"I know that the snake and the raven are Slytherin and Ravenclaw, the griffon would have to be Potters, but that would not explain the other one... and I'm afraid I don't know the others," said Daphne.

"The wolf is Grindelwald and the crow with thestral is Black, the griffons are Potter and Gryffindor respectively," he said, wondering what her reaction would be. Her reaction didn't disappoint him when her breath caught and eyes grew wider than he thought possible. He chuckled to himself before quickly using an ennervate to wake her up. "I also happen to have a philosopher's stone for our use." Instead of fainting this time she started to shake a little and sat down in her chair again, staring at him mouth agape and eyes wide.

Reaching over she poured herself a cup of the still hot tea. "Is there anything else you want to tell me Harry?" she whispered out after a few moments. The tea apparently calmed her down a bit, as she seemed less shocked.

"Not right now," said Harry. "Is there anything else we need to do before getting to the contract?"

She shook her head to signal there was nothing else they needed to discuss at the time. Harry then left the room and returned with a goblin. The goblin was called in by one of the tellers Harry talked to when he left the room. His name was Holetooth and he was from the contracts department here at Gringotts.

Writing the contract was straightforward. As this was merely a preliminary contract, it had no exit clauses or other items. It said simply that they would be married for one years' time from the date of signing. After that time, the marriage could become permanent if both parties agreed. In addition, because it was only for a year it contained no requirements for an heir for either family. Once the contract was written and made magical, Harry and Daphne both signed becoming Harry and Daphne Potter for the year, possibly forever.


	4. Reactionary Events

**The New Dark Lord**

**(A/N): This chapter takes place between when Harry left Gringotts and the end of the previous chapter giving us a glimpse of the world outside of Harry. This chapter does not deal with Harry, merely what happens with people after the will reading. **

**BTW- There's no dialog in this chapter, just a heads up if that bothers you. **

**As usual, I've checked for glaring errors, but can't guarantee 'error free'. I write for fun and have better things to do than make every sentence perfect in every conceivable way. If you want to bring an error to my attention, be civil about it, Thank you.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: Reactionary Events<strong>

Elsewhere, in many places the aftershocks of Sirius' will was still being felt. The reading had produced many shocks and not all of them for Harry. For some, the revelations and events would be welcomed, or eagerly watched on with rapt attention. For others things could not have gone any worse.

One of these people was Albus Dumbledore. The undisputed 'leader of the light', as many viewed him, was furious after the reading. How the boy managed to get to Gringotts puzzled him. There was no way he could have left through the front door and the mail redirection wards were active. After the boy's third year, he had placed more wards around the residence at Number 4 Privet drive. Harry could not be allowed to wander away during the summer and spend his summer in Diagon as he did that third year.

The destiny that was placed on Harry was _far_ too important. He could not be allowed to wander around aimlessly. Dumbledore could also not let him gain access to his vaults and inheritances. To do so would lose any control he had over the boy. Control he needed not to further his own plans, but to ensure that Harry moved to fulfill his destiny and the prophecy. Part of Dumbledore felt bad about keeping such things away from him, but he felt strongly that it was necessary for the good of the world.

_Surly the happiness of one boy was such an insignificant sacrifice, as compared to the fate of England, perhaps the world._

His plans were further ruined with the Weasley boy's inability to keep his mouth closed. The foolish child revealed himself to Potter and would no longer be useful as a spy. A role Ron only filled only recently. Ron really was Harry's friend at first, but over their school years, he could not help but feel overshadowed. It was part of being friends with Harry but after near death for the first three years, the feeling of being overshadowed bloomed into something else. Dumbledore was then able to snatch him up as his spy to help defeat Harry.

Ron had been manipulated with lies of glory into spying on Harry for Dumbledore. He was told that Potter could eventually become a new dark lord and he, Ron, could help stop him before he became powerful. His name would be remembered as a hero. The only things Ronald reported on were the sort of things Harry was studying and any strange or dark behaviors. Even his mother had joined in on the plot. Dumbledore had attempted to get their little girl to join as well but her feelings, even as they were in her youth, were too strong for the boy and she was never brought into the plot. She would have been a great asset to get firsthand knowledge about Harry and prevent a new Dark Lord. However, she refused and needed to be obliviated.

He had manipulated his spies onto the boy and he knew every move Harry made. It was not because he wanted Harry dead to take the glory. It was because he felt again, that the destiny that lied on Harry's feet was too great. Harry needed to defeat Voldemort. To do that however he needed to kill. Dumbledore was concerned that by taking Tom's life, Harry would go dark. If he did turn, defeating him needed to be quick and decisive or the world would not survive. What alerted him to the potential was Harry's indifference to his killing of Quirrell.

The moment Harry signed the documents to become the new lord black, the blood wards around Number 4 fell. The blood wards were tied directly to Harry's status as a child, becoming emancipated voided this status, collapsing the wards. Voldemort and his forces were able to learn of the breach and move on the home. Unlike their regular attacks, they did not apparate in and cause mass havoc. They did bathe the home in fiendfyre. Why they did this, was unknown to Dumbledore but he presumed Voldemort was injured from the recent battle and unable to order his forces, or take part himself. Further proof, that Harry was the one of the prophecy.

Fiendfyre was a nasty dark spell. It was notoriously hard to control and put out as it consumed everything and anything in its path leaving nothing behind. Should a witch, wizard, or other magical creature get even the smallest amount of fire on them they could be utterly consumed in seconds. The only mark it left was large black burns that were impossible to remove from anything. Only time and nature could do that. Only near instantaneous treatment could prevent death, though serious injury was impossible to prevent as the loss of a limb.

Albus had immediately apparated to the home the rescue the Dursleys but it was too late for them. The home and anything or anybody inside was already gone. The wreckage was still burning as fiery creations danced on the burning hulk. He was half-tempted to wait until it died out and retrieve the Potter boy's stuff to get back on good terms and show him why he must listen to him. In the end, he decided not to. He would use it as an excuse to force a lesson on the boy, and force him into his path.

**-TNDL-**

Molly and Ron were both furious. How dare that boy not give them more money? After nearly dying on various adventures Harry had, Ron felt like he deserved a bit of gold as compensation. Instead, he was only insulted with mere 30 pieces of silver. Ron knew he was a jealous and arrogant idiot. There was not much to change that at this point. In addition, with what had happened recently, he didn't think he would have any friend to help him find his own way.

What he said during the will reading still held true. He did think Harry was only good for nearly getting him killed or for getting the quidditch, and sometimes house cup. Harry never was very good at conversation. When they did talk, it was usually things about school such as quidditch, or the yearly problems. Thought those were entertaining by themselves, when he was not near death. Harry hardly ever talked about, well, man stuff. Frankly, it confused, and worried Ron to some degree.

His mother was equally as furious albeit different reasons. Dumbledore had promised her she would be getting a pile of gold from the will reading, as had Sirius himself. She was promised it as a reward for helping a lonely orphaned boy find a loving family. She hated to do it for the gold but the truth was they needed it. With so many children, they had a lot of expenses. Thought they only had two children in Hogwarts, they still had a pile of debt to pay off. Molly thought she was doing the right thing. She could help a lonely child find the right path and ensure that her children did not become straddled down by their parent's debts.

Going to Hogwarts was _very _expensive. Out of the three European schools of magic, it was the most expensive, but had the most prestige. Many other families' like the Weasleys still sent their children there even with great debts. Receiving their magical education there was part of many family legacy's after all. It cost about a 5000 gallons a year to send a child to the school for one year. This figure did not take into account the costs of supplies or a broom. To help pay for their children's educations, Molly and Arthur had taken several long-term loans to help ease the burden.

They were small enough that they would not have to repay a ton of money, but still small enough that they were well below the average wizarding family. It certainly did not help that they had other debts to pay off as well. Part of the reason the Burrow was as ramshackle as it was, was because of the rapid need for expansions. They needed to take out several more loans to help expand the building.

The gold Molly was supposed to be getting from the will reading was to be kept secret from Arthur. He was an intensely proud man and she didn't think he would take it well what she did. Not that she blamed him. She intended to use most of it to pay a majority of their debt, and put the rest in trust for her children. The Weasley family used to have a large family vault at Gringotts but it was since lost and pilfered over time. She wanted the trust vault to help secure the future of her children and their children.

As they got home to the Burrow, the family home, they started to rant and rave about the Potter child. Fuelled by their anger they were unaware of what exactly they were saying. They were the only two in the house as Ginny went over to Luna's for a while. What they didn't know was she returned some time ago.

Ginny used one of the twin's extendable ears to listen in on their conversation. As she did, she became disgusted with her family. Her father raised her to be a better Weasley than what those two monsters were. Later she would write a letter to Harry and warn him if he didn't already know.

**-TNDL-**

Remus and Tonks had always thought of Molly and Ron as two of Harry's biggest supporters. They didn't think they could have been more wrong. To them it also seemed that Dumbledore was also against Harry. Knowing this the first thing Remus did with Number 12 Grimmauld place was to banish the order from within its walls and bring the full wards up.

The fidelius charm was still active however and so, as the new owner, Remus canceled it revealing it to well-wishers and harm doers. With the help of Tonks, he recast the spell and Number 12 was once again hidden to all who did not know the secret.

Once that were done putting the fidelius back up they went to bed in the gloomy home. They went to bed not separately, but together. After the death of Sirius, they had gotten quite close with each other. It did not take long for things to get even closer as they started to share a bed.

**-TNDL-**

Hermione was depressed. Harry and Ron were her two best friends, her only friends in the magical world. Since the age of eleven, it had been home to her, a place where she fit in. However unwelcomed or imperfect the fit, it was the best place in her life. Standing between Ron and Harry, solving mysteries, was one of the best things she could do. There was nowhere or nothing she would rather be doing even if she nearly got killed a few times.

Harry always was kind to her. Though he was never really a friend until after rescuing her from the troll, it was not long after that he became, a best friend. Ron was always an ass to her until after she befriended Harry. After that, they became close as well. To hear from Ron, that it was all for some gold hurt her. It hurt her more than she realized it could as the boy she had feelings for, only cared for himself and a pile of gold.

The sting of betrayal is not a wound to be taken lightly. Whole empires could rise and fall on its sharp sting. Modes of thought and courses of actions could be steered by its violent thrust. The pain it caused was like a crucio but oh so permanent. It was that sting, that violent thrust into a different direction, and that pain… causing the once kind bookworm to break and snap.

She swore never to read them again to throw them out at the first opportunity. No matter how many times she told herself that or tried to toss them out, she kept them. She never could get rid of a book, no matter how bad or horrible it was. She even still had all her books from when she was little. Her one weakness was her greatest strength. She had to know. She _needed_ to know. For the brilliant bookworm, throwing away a book was tantamount to murder.

In and perhaps because of her loss she did what she swore she would never do. Last year at Grimmauld Place, she had snuck a few dark arts books. Curiously, she read a few pages and became disgusted with their contents. However, because for the will reading, she needed something new to read and dove right into the pages of _Darkness Most Black_. Into that dark well, she would start her dark journey.

How far she would go down that road was unknown. Would she use the dark knowledge? Would see loose herself and her morals? Would she gain a new understanding of what they were fighting against or become the darkness she fought?

**-TNDL-**

Narcissa and Draco Malfoy left the reading seriously considering the offer left to each of them. Neither came expecting anything but were required to attend anyway. So, when their names came up it was quite the surprise they were left anything at all, regardless if it was merely an offer until acted on.

For Narcissa Malfoy she saw it as an opportunity to get out. If she took the offer, she could get out from Lucius' thumb and the Dark Lords wrath. She could then live her life in peace as she wanted, at least until they came to killer her. Her marriage to Lucius was never for love, only politics. If she left him, it would surly cause a loss of reputation to the Malfoy name. Not that some had already been lost with the revelations that Lucius _really_ was a death eater.

Draco saw the opportunity on the other hand, with other revelations, to befriend Potter again. Prior to recent events, the Malfoy name was a well-respected pureblood family. They still were, but people were on guard in dealing with them now. A friendship with Potter would surely dispel the notion they were all death eaters. A friendship of any type with a Potter was not something any Malfoy before had done.

Draco liked the offer left to him. The problem was if he and his mother left, they would surely be hunted and killed when he father got out of Azkaban, legally or not. He could also lose his name and be considered a bastard child. That was something worse than a mudblood in their world.

However, nameless children often kept their family name. The mark of being nameless would haunt him wherever he went. He would be could be unable to finish his education, find an apprenticeship, or a job of any kind. They only way he could survive would be the loss of his magic and living out his days in the muggle world.

He could always move away to another country if that happened. However, all of the magical realms in Europe spoke different languages. Very few of them ventured out so hardly any knew English, let along the language of their neighbors. About the only place, he could flee to would be America. That took money, money he would no longer have if he lost his name.

That was only a possibility however. If Draco was able to join with Potter, he was confident his father could be killed before he became Draco no name. In the process, he could save both himself and his mother. He would also still be contracted to his future wife. Draco was not contracted to Pansy, as they both fooled the school to believe. Draco and Pansy were merely close friends because of their father's mutual… late night interests.

Draco, with Pansy's help did this to help protect his real wife. His real future wife was two years behind him. She had brilliant raven hair and already was developing quite the body, like her sister. Unlike most Malfoy women, his wife would not have a very large chest. That did not bother him however as since they were contracted they got to know each other. Astoria Greengrass was the only other person Draco cared about in his life, and he would do _anything_ to protect her and their relationship.

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><p><strong>(Authors Notes)<strong>

**Hm, how will this change thing between Harry and the others? Will Harry be able to forgive Ron and Molly, if he knew their reasons? What about Hermione, will she really go dark, or is it just because of grief? What about Draco and Narcissa, will they take the offers left to them, or take another road?**


	5. The Heart Stone

**The New Dark Lord**

**(A/N): Ok, so I lied. I have an update ready for you. Not much going on this chapter as we've just finished setting things up and are now moving on to the core of things. **

**So you, the reader know updates might be a bit slow. I've been very busy and it's hard trying to write two/three stories at the same time.**

**As usual, I've checked for glaring errors, but can't guarantee 'error free'. I write for fun and have better things to do than make every sentence perfect in every conceivable way. If you want to bring an error to my attention, be civil about it, Thank you.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: The Heart Stone<strong>

After signing the marriage document Harry thought that he would feel different. Maybe there would be a flash of light and the sudden appearance of wedding rings on their fingers. Perhaps even a greater understanding of some unknown fact. It was not like that at all. He did feel a little different, maybe a bit more responsible and maybe even more, attraction, to Daphne. There was no major changes though and no sudden flashes of light or freak magic happening.

"Does this stop any monitoring of underage magic for you?" Harry asked Daphne. He was curious because if she were going to help him she would need an untraceable wand

She smiled at how little he knew of his world. "Yes, even though I'm underage marriage stops them tracking me.

Harry smiled at her as he got up from his chair. Pushing his chair back, he moved over to her and helped his new dark lady up from her chair. Daphne smiled at her lord as he helped her.

"Thanks milord," she spoke.

"Daphne, for one year, maybe more, I am not your lord but your husband," said Harry.

She smiled brightly at him as he led her from the room and Gringotts bank. Before he left, he withdrew a thousand galleons. Even thought they were both exempt from the restriction on underage sorcery Harry felt it was best she had a second wand, just in case. Once they left, Harry discretely conjured a pair of hoods for them to wear down the alley. They put the hoods on making sure not to show who they were before placing the hoods on.

Once they were confident that their identities would be secure in the ally, they turned down Knockturn. Harry led her down the alley and to the wand maker he visited a week previously. When they entered the shopkeeper was about to tear into them with the same greeting a week before. Once he noticed the hoods, he became passive and went about his work for the customers.

Daphne smiled at Harry from under her hood and went about the process. She ran her hand along each wood feeling it and contemplating it. In the end, she ended up picking a piece of ivy wood. Smirking she handed it to the keeper and followed his instructions for the core materials. Like Harry, she ended up with the four core materials of Phoenix Feather, Hippogriff Feather, Sphinx Blood, and Manticore blood.

They decided to wait there while the crafter went about his work. They were only there for about half an hour as he made the wand. Harry thought it had something to do with his previous visit. Once he was done, he handed the beautiful wand to Daphne and she decided to have some fun. To test the wand she waved it and all the blocks of wood and ingredients flew from their shelves. From there a complex glamour was placed on them to make them appear as something else.

"It's a fine wand sir," she said once the test was complete, "How much?"

The man, who still looked like a blacksmith, dropped his arms down to hang in defeat while his shoulders slumped. "150 galleons for the wand," he sighed.

"Very well," replied Daphne with a corner of her mouth smirking up. She reached into her moneybag and handed over the money pluses a little extra.

Once the wand was paid for, Harry led her out of the store and then portkeyed back to Potter Manor. They had to travel to outside the wards, as Daphne was not keyed in as family yet. Keying her in was simple, as he needed to do was declare her to the wards as Lady Potter. Doing that Harry led her into the impressive building.

Daphne was _very_ impressed with the manor. The manor building was large for a wizarding home. Most wizarding homes were not very large as wizards did not need that much space and if they did, expansion charms existed to increase space. The building was made from a mixture of stone, wood, and brick. Part of the foundation or part of the basement was above the ground and made from brick. From there the rest was made from wood with stone support pillars. The style of the architecture itself was somewhere between a castle and Monticello.

As Harry led Daphne into the manor, he stopped for a moment to gauge her reaction to his family home. She did not disappoint again she he watched her take in the amazing structure. With a gentle nudge, he broke her gaze and led her inside. Once they closed the outer door, there was a soft pop as Mindy appeared.

"Greetings Master, and new Mistress, can Mindy serve you?" said the tiny elf.

"No Mindy, but we will call you if we need anything," Said Harry.

Mindy was about to pop away again when Daphne spoke, "Mindy, please prepare the master bedroom and bath rooms for a… fine, evening…"

The elf paused for a moment and seemed to blush a deep red before nodding vigorously and popping away. Harry watched in scene with absolute confusion. He had no idea what Daphne was talking about and why the elf reacted as it did. Daphne must have noticed his confusion as she turned to him.

"Seriously Harry, you can't be that dense," she said. Harry just looked more confused after her statement so she decided to explain. "Even though we're married by contract, you still need to preform your… husbandly duties." She said the last bit with a hint of anxiety, tension, and lust. "You didn't read the whole contract, did you?" she smiled, "We'll just have to add that to things I need to teach you then."

Harry continued to draw a blank for a moment causing Daphne to roll her eyes. After calling an elf, she made her way to the master bedroom. Harry remained standing until he finally figured it out and his entire face grew red. He continued to stand there thinking of the implications when an elf grabbed his attention and led him away to the master bedroom a short while later.

Once there Harry opened the door and his jaw promptly dropped when he entered. The room was lit by a plethora of candles casting warm orange light over everything. He could smell incense in the air and noticed a few sticks burning on the top of the master dresser. The sweet sensual smells were nothing compared to what lie across from it on the master bed.

Daphne was on the bed leaning on the headboard with a few pillows behind her. Her arms were in a relaxed position at her side. One of her legs was starched out along the bed while the other was bent at the knee preventing him from a good view.

Harry had never seen so much feminine skin before. She was on the bed in only a risqué black lacey bra that perfectly cupped her gorgeous breasts and black French cut knickers. The material they were made from was slightly seen through so he was able to see a good amount of skin.

Daphne gave a sultry smile seeing his reaction. She could tell he was already growing from where she was and looked forward to what was about to Happen. Harry, seeing her smile, smiled back and closed the door. He then made his way over to the bed while thinking what a fun night it would be.

The next morning Harry awoke with a pleased smile on his face. He was currently very naked with an equally naked Daphne spooned against him. He was having a significant morning reaction and made no move to hide it after last night. Thought at first they were both inexperienced and failed to last long, they quickly recovered and made love thorough early morning.

With a groan, Daphne joined her husband in the waking world. Smiling she rotated around and gave Harry a deep, loving kiss. "Good morning love," she said

"Good morning," he replied kissing her back equally. "Shall we head down to breakfast, or do you want to take another quick roll?"

She smiled at his suggestion but quickly dismissed it. While she would have loved to, she was incredibly sore from the previous night. Harry nodded in understanding and they both got out of the bed. They took a shower together before putting on their morning robes. As they were the only ones there besides the elves, they didn't feel like dressing fully.

Harry was only wearing some under garments and a black robe secured at the waist. Daphne was also wearing a black robe tied at the waist. She was also wearing a clean pair of white knickers and a bra to secure herself. Not one to care about her modesty, she left the top of her robe open slightly allowing a good view of her. It was something she had taken to as she enjoyed the feeling of open air against her skin. She was unable to do so openly at home because her father forbade it. He always was one for proper decorum; he also seemed to be fighting off a nosebleed when she did.

As Harry and Daphne sat down to eat, the elves looked at them funny. Never before had the master and mistress of the house say down in such attire. They were about to point this out to their master but decided not to.

As they sat down Harry discussed his plans with Daphne. Today had not planned on not doing much besides traveling to Hogwarts. Since he was heir to three of the founders Harry wanted to discover how much control he had over the castle as well as possibly harvesting the basilisk. Since it was the summer time, the only staff present in the castle was Flitch. This made it a perfect time to travel there for any business, as he would not need to deal with Lord Grey Beard or his cult of lost ducklings.

While they were talking, they talked about their previous lives for a short while. Harry felt slightly depressed as he listened to Daphne talk about her past. Just another thing that made Harry feel sad to have lost his parents. Though as a pureblood her life was strict, she was still able to have fun. Her father sounded like a strict, no nonsense man. While her mother sounded like the life of the family. Daphne, while in some ways was a mixture of her mother and father, her sister was mostly like her mother by her descriptions.

When she was done talking about her life, Harry talked about his. It was a bit painful for him at first. In the end, it was oddly liberating talking about his past. It was as if calm washed over him as he spoke. He was at peace with how he was, and what his life was like.

Daphne was horrified, and disgusted, as she listened to Harry and his story. She already held a certain distain for muggles. They were dirty and most were dreadfully unsophisticated. She also thought they were quite barbaric. Cutting each other open to heal, and just piling up all their waste in piles.

"Harry," started Daphne, "Can I ask why? Why do you plan on taking over the world? That's something I never would have expected from you, or the golden boy of Gryffindor."

"All my life I've been mistreated or abused for various reasons," started Harry. "My _'relatives'_ abused me simply because I was _'different'_. While the wizarding world praises me one moment for something I _didn't_ do and the next casts me down because they read something in a gossip column."

"I had friends who only wanted money," Harry continued, "and a headmaster who only wants a weapon. No more, I will no longer be controlled or used for the gain of others."

Harry paused for a moment, "The wizarding world needs guidance from being mindless sheep, following the most famous or popular, to something more. _I_ will be that guidance. I will tear it all down and rebuild it better, and we will finally grow into the future instead of stewing in our past. We will stop persecuting everything because it's different from us. I will bring an age of understanding, reason, and prosperity."

"What about our traditions," said Daphne with a little venom in her voice? She would support Harry if he were to rule the world as it was her nature. Not at the cost of traditions very much a part of who she is, traditions that had been instilled into her since birth. "Are you just going to throw them all away, make a new world because you say so? What about the muggleborn?"

"No, I intend to keep the traditions like I said," said Harry calming down his bride. "You must understand however, that some may have to change. Keepings things the same simply because that's how it's always been is ludicrous, and part of why our world is so screwed up. As for the muggleborn, one of my best friends is muggleborn, so casting them out is not an option, Even if she wasn't a friend. We need them as loath as we are to admit it."

"What do you intend to do with them then?" she asked.

"I don't know. That's something we'll have to wait on," Harry said quietly. He really had no idea what to do with them. The problem was very complicated. Some muggleborn were really muggleborn, the first of their family to have magic. While others were old lines returning to their magic, though most had lost their name and any memory of the magical world. Harry was tempted to take them all from their parents, and raise them as orphans as mages from the start. Upon deep reflection, he was unsure if that was something he could do to another, given his own past.

Another part of him wanted to say screw it. Those old lines lost their magic for a reason. He would do what he could to save the current generation of 'muggleborn' and then wipe out the muggles. He would do so not because of petty revenge, but survival. Their world was content to survive by hiding and covering up any trace their existence. Meanwhile, the muggles have overrun the planet, killing it, while they, the wizards, slowly died out.

After they had finished their breakfast, Harry and Daphne thanked the elves and returned to their room. There they dressed for the day and set off. Harry decided to wear muggle attire biased on what they would be doing, and encouraged Daphne to do the same. Sometime during the night, the elves retrieved her clothing. Which were quite a lot in both wizarding and muggle styles. Harry rose an eyebrow at how a pureblood witch would wear muggle clothes, to which she responded that though the clothes were muggle they were much more practical than wizarding attire for such occasions.

Once dressed, they left for the main gate to portkey out. To do this Harry conjured a simple object to grab onto and turned it into a portkey. Grabbing on they felt the pull of it as it took them to their destination, just outside the Hogwarts gates. Even knowing how portkeys worked Harry still fell on his ass.

Daphne chuckled as she helped a grumbling Harry. "You have no idea how to travel by portkey, do you?" she asked.

Harry glared at her from the side while looking at the closed gate to Hogwarts. "I can never land right," he said still irritated. "I always seem to land my on ass."

She laughed a little more, "You have to jump up a little just before it activates."

"Yes, well, let's deal with my traveling troubles later," he said turning back to the gate.

The gate was a simple construction and marked the entrance through the castles wards. It was merely two large stone pillars with a large iron gate between them. The gates extended a few feet before arching up and meeting each other. In the center of the gate, as part of the locking mechanism, was the Hogwarts crest.

To open the castle ground to him, Harry walked up to the gate and placed his lordship ring against the crest. "I Harry James Potter Black Gryffindor Ravenclaw Slytherin Grindelwald, as heir to three of the founders, demand access to the castle and its environs!"

Nothing happened for a moment and Harry thought it failed. That was until there was a bright flash of light from between the ring and the gate. The light apparently was not just light as it scorched the crest a little. It was only for a moment as it soon faded and the gate opened. Smiling, Harry offered his arm to Daphne as they strolled up to the castle.

The grounds were eerily quiet during the summer without the sounds of schoolchildren. Off in the distance eerie sounds could be heard from the forbidden forest. The grounds were well kept and as they neared the castle, they spotted Flitch coming out to greet them.

"What are you doing here, schools closed!" cranked the irritable caretaker.

Harry flashed his rings to the caretaker, "I believe," drawled Harry "I am the owner of the castle."

Flitch's eyes widened and he gave a respectable bow to the couple and ushered them inside. Part of the duties as caretaker was to greet the heir or heirs should they return. Ragnok was helpful enough to provide Harry with information relating to his status. As the sole Heir to Hogwarts with the last losing what made him the heir in 1981, Harry was the owner of the school and all relating items. He had total final control over everything thought the hiring of staff remained with the headmaster unless he intervened in the decision-making.

At the main doors to the castle, Flitch opened the doors for them granting access. Inside Harry instinctually knew where to go. He was unsure if it was because he knew of his status or if it was part of the magic in the rings. He quickly made his way to the great hall. There he made his way up to the gold stand where the headmaster gave his speeches.

Once there Harry stood a few feet behind it and extended his right arm out focusing upon the stand. Soon the golden horned owl on the front of the stand extended its wings in stationary flight. The stone the stand was standing on slid forward exposing a recess. Inside the recess was something that looked like the base of a roman column. Inside the base was a large what looked like glass sphere.

The sphere was about a foot and a half in diameter. The surface was extremely shiny. The inside of the sphere had a multitude of colors swirling inside it. The center appeared to be a deep black void as the colors swirled around. The colors varied from deep blues, to vibrant yellows, to lustful reds, and deep forest greens.

After a short while, the ball lifted out from its resting place on its own power. It lifted up into the air and into Harry's hand. Once he was touching it, a light started to pulse like a wave. It went from the ball to Harry and back again before repeating. It did this several times before stopping and a white nimbus of light briefly swirled around Harry before disappearing.

Once it was done, Harry was connected to the school as Heir. From his connection, he 'felt' the castle. Ever stone, every sink, and every Hogwarts toilet seat was part of his unconsciousness. It was a strange feeling having a castle in your head. Harry tested his abilities over the castle and found that he could close some doors by thought. He was able to open the common room doors, door to the great hall, and the main doors to the castle and the main gate.

Harry was also able to control the wards. It was true that Hogwarts was one of the safest places on the planet. The defenses around the castle were truly ancient and able to ward off even the foulest of foes, if they were turned on. Harry was able to tell that the wards had been off for about 16 years… shortly before the death of his parents. Not all of the wards were off however as the anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards were still active.

"I have the wards," Harry said to nobody specifically.

"See anything peculiar?" said Daphne.

"Dragons," said Harry with a bit of humor.

"Dragons," Shouted Daphne, she then started to look around. She even went so far as to look out the windows that lined the Great hall as best as she could.

Harry laughed a thick jubilant laugh, which could lighten the coldest hearts. All Daphne did however was stop her frantic search and glare at him. "What are you laughing about Potter?"

"There's a ward for dragons," Harry explained with a bit of humor. "It alerts the headmaster and staff to a dragon attack."

Daphne rolled her eyes slightly, "Anything else, of interest?" She said tartly.

Apparently, there was as Harry growled. "Dumbledore disabled the anti-rape wards around the castle."

"A-anti-rape wards…" Daphne Breathed.

"I'm turning them back on," said Harry

"What exactly do," she paused "anti-rape wards do?"

Harry took a moment to find out through the ward stone. As long as he was connected to it, he could change and manipulate all the wards. He could do so to a greater degree than the headmaster, who could only turn them off or on. Harry could also lock Dumbledore out of turning them off or adding his own wards. Dumbledore still could cast his own wards around the castle, but they would be nowhere near as powerful.

"It looks like they detect sexual activity in the castle," said Harry "Somehow it can tell if it's consensual or not, and 'disables' the would be rapist before they can do anything"

Daphne raised an eyebrow, "Disables?"

"Sorry, that's all I can tell."

Harry turned on some of the other wards around the castle as well. One of the wards was against house elves. What it did was block any elves from entering the castle not bound to the castle via their unique from of apparition. Another was a ward to repel dark creatures from the grounds. This included a majority of the forbidden forest allowing the centaur and unicorn herds that roamed there to do so peacefully.

When Harry was done altering the wars the ward stone returned into the castle. Once it was connected to the castle, the wards updated to Harry's specifications. After that, the stone slab covering it returned along with the golden stand, sealing until he needed it again. That done Harry and Daphne left. Not before, they forbade Flitch from informing the headmaster of them. They decided to wait on harvesting the Basilisk when they had more time and the proper equipment.

On the way out of the castle, several owls dived on Harry. This was unusual as owls generally delivered their mail to the home of who the mail was intended. They never delivered mail to somebody as they were traveling. Curiously, Harry took the letters from the owls and they flew off to where they came from.

"Why am I getting mail now?" voiced Harry

"You didn't turn down the wards around the manor, did you?" asked Daphne

"Why would I need to do that?"

"Because," drawled Daphne, "if you don't turn down the wards, owls won't be able to deliver anything to you."

"Oh," was all Harry was able to say.

Shrugging it off for now Harry looked at what mail he received. One was from Gringotts, no doubt dealing with yesterday's business. Another looked like it was from Hermione as it bore her neat, perfect handwriting. There was three other letters, one looked like it was from Remus, another Ron, and the last was from Dumbledore.

Harry growled as he got to the last two. Ron and Dumbledore were dead to him. It was impossible, as Harry thought, to repair things between himself and Dumbledore. It was just as impossible, or so Harry thought, to repair things between himself and Ron as well.

Frowning Harry placed the letters in his pocket for now. Then, conjuring a simple object again, Harry turned it into a portkey. Handing it to Daphne, they both departed. Thing time however, Harry followed his lovely wife's advice and jumped slightly just before activation.

On arrival, Harry found that he was standing. He was _standing!_ He had not landed on his ass but standing upright and proud. To make sure he was not hallucinating he pated himself down. Looking around he saw Daphne covering her mouth with her hand, forcing back her laughter.

Harry glared at her again before she was unable to contain herself any longer and laughed soundly. "I see you took my advice," she said.

"I did," he growled, "What I want to know is why it helped?"

"It has to do with the way portkeys work," she said as they made their way to their destination. They had arrived in Diagon Alley. Their destination was specifically Gringotts. Harry, in his busy schedule had not had the time to have a proper look around his vaults.

Harry listened to her explain why jumping helped land better with portkey travel. Portkeys worked by 'teleporting' a person or object from one place to a programed destination. It was apparently similar to apparition when making the destination. However, because the person was not the actual one moving, the portkey tended take its travels to a point that would put part of them, underground. As a safety feature in the spell that was impossible, just awkward when it threw that person about the ground. The jumping helped by preventing a person from trying to appear in the ground, and resulted in a smooth landing.

Walking up the oddly shaped white marble building, Harry opened the door to Gringotts and held it for Daphne. Following her inside Harry walked up the one of the tellers curious as to what exactly he would find in his vaults.

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><p><strong>Authors Note:<strong>

**Fist, I'd like to say if you have not figured it out already, this story will probably be filled with clichés and over used stuff. If that's something you don't like, leave. You don't need to be an ass in the reviews. You also don't need to read something and assume that's all there is. Wait, be patient. I don't always explain everything that's happening in one go.**

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><p><strong>Ok, when I took this story over I felt that this could be a decent Harrymulti fic. As I started to rewrite the chapters, this changed into keeping it a straight Harry/Daphne fic. As, a multi fic would get complicated focusing on the many intimate relationships between the characters and add more focus on them, rather than the story.**

**I still feel this, but I'm conflicted now. I feel the story **_**needs**_** to be a multi fic. This is because of the stone. With it, Harry and Daphne can be immortal. Now, I can make it so that Harry and Daphne fall deeply in love and that's all they need. Alternatively, the marriage between then can only progress beyond the alliances they have formed and Harry will have other women, besides Daphne.**

**That makes another problem. Who will these women be? How will they join Harry? Will they marry him to keep the lines separate? Will he marry them to help boost the wizarding population? With the stone and a few other women, surly Harry can add a significant boost to the wizarding world's population after the losses of the last few dark lords given enough time.**

**In addition, with one of my more, nefariously evil ideas for this story, he may need to take more wives to build up the world he envisions.**

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><p><strong>Another thing is just how much money Harry has. Looking back at it, I have no idea what possessed me to give him that much. So, just a heads up, Harry might not be as supper rich as he was before, OR I'll probably have some way of explaining just why Harry has so much money.<strong>


	6. Dragons Treasure

**The New Dark Lord**

**Authors Note:** To those who have been following a long for a while I've changed a few things in previous chapters. Don't worry nothing critical has changed. It's really more of a silly accounting issue. Some goblin (author cough, cough) had a retard moment and forgot to crunch the numbers together. You will find the details bellow.

Before the edit, Harry Potter had 927,870,328,375,000 galleons in the Potter vault, and 89.7 trillion in each of the 3 founder's vaults. This was for a grand total of 1,196,970,328,375,000 quadrillion….

Yes, you read that right. Now you see the reason for the edit. Harry is no longer exactly 'ha-ha I own the world rich'. He now has 7,870,328,375 galleons for the Potters, and about 89.7 billion (in galleons only) from each of the founders. We will see exact records soon for all the vaults soon.

I apologize for my lack of thoughtfulness on this issue and hope you don't hate this edit. I felt there was no plausible reason for that much money without being utterly ridiculous. Yes, the Potters have a philosopher's stone. However, with what I have planned for the stone, it would not have worked as an explanation. You will see why in the coming chapters.

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><p><strong>Chapter 6: Dragons Treasure<strong>

Harry and Daphne entered Gringotts and walked to the nearest teller. The bank was not very busy when they arrived so there were hardly any lines. Harry figured most people already came by to make withdraws for their morning shopping. Most of the tellers were lazily awaiting more business at their post.

Walking up to one of the tellers with Daphne following shortly behind Harry said, "I would like a tour of all my vaults for my wife, and myself."

"Names," said the goblin in a bored, sleepy voice.

"Harry James Potter Black, and Daphne Potter," Harry turned to look at Daphne who gave a small nod.

"Ah, Lord Potter," spoke the goblin who was now curiously more alert. "King Ragnok was wondering when you would tour your vaults. Would you like an account manager and a Gringotts appraiser to travel with you?" Daphne caught the mention of the Goblin King and wondered what he had to do with anything but said nothing.

Harry took a moment to think about it. Having either with them would be useful to know what exactly was in his vaults. However, it would be nice to have some privacy for his first visits. "Will it be possible to have one of my account managers to take us down to answer any questions? As my first visit, I would like some privacy looking over the contents."

"It's not a problem at all Lord Potter," said the goblin. "However, your manager may not be able to answer all the questions you may have, unlike one of our appraisers."

"That's fine," Harry said dismissively.

The goblin nodded and wrote down a quick message before handing to a waiting goblin behind him. Harry and Daphne then moved off to the side while they waited for his manager. Harry actually had no idea who his manager was. He supposed it would be a good idea to know at least one, seeing is they were managing one of his vaults.

They did not have to wait there long as a goblin came out from the door that led to the back offices. The goblin was older looking with pasty white skin. He still had a few patches of normal peach skin, but it only served to make the creature look ill. Add to that, the goblin appeared to be balding as he was missing patches of what little hair a goblin had.

"Greetings Mr. Potter," said the goblin in a voice that Harry thought matched its apparent age. "I am Bloodtroth. I am one of the managers over your accounts."

"One of?" asked Daphne raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Ms.?" Said the goblin, as the contracts was only made last night he had yet to be informed of their marriage.

"Daphne Potter," said Daphne while giving a respectable half bow. "Formally Greengrass, we just signed a contract of marriage yesterday."

"My apologies for not knowing, Lady Potter," Bowed the goblin in return. "As for your question, I shall answer it on the way to your vaults. Please follow me."

The goblin led them behind the central teller's desk, right side. There was the entrance to the vault system of Gringotts. There already was a cart waiting for them as they entered. After climbing aboard the cart, they sped off.

"As you have asked, I am but one of the managers over Lord Potters accounts," said Bloodtroth. "I specifically manage the Grindelwald vault. Lord Potter has one manager for the Potter, Black, and Grindelwald vaults. The Director has traditionally managed the founders' vaults. Director King Ragnok also has taken an interest in overseeing your other managers."

"I should also tell you Lord Potter," said the goblin through the loud rushing air. "Since you're last official visit, we've taken the liberty of moving the contents of your trust vault into the main Potter vault. We hope this is acceptable to you."

"That's fine," Harry managed to say over the rush of air.

After a moment, the goblin asked which specific vault he would like to visit first. Harry after thinking about it a moment told Bloodtroth to take them to the Black vault first. After that, he asked they be taken to the Grindelwald vault, followed by the founders, and lastly the Potter vault.

It was a relatively short journey to the Black vault. Harry figured it only took a few moments longer to get to the Black vault then it would his former trust vault. When they arrived, Harry got out first and helped Daphne exit the cart, followed by Bloodtroth.

The door to the Black vault was similar to the one he and Hagrid visited before his first year, if only larger. It was about double the size and appeared too made from steel. Across the face of the vault was a crisscrossed web of bands that were then riveted to the door. The door had a slightly worn and rusted look to it. In the upper center of the door was a blank space where a single word stood, _'BLACK'_.

Bloodtroth walked up to the door and slid open a hidden compartment. The inside appeared to have a special slot for a key and space for a hand to be placed, specifically a goblin hand. Bloodtroth took out a key and placed it in the slot but did not turn it. He then handed Harry a large ring with several keys on it.

"This is all of your vault keys," said Bloodtroth as he handed them over. "Gringotts recommends you separate the keys from the ring and store them separately from each other." The goblin then moved past Harry to open another compartment. This one appeared similar but had a small circle indent in it, rather than a place for a hand.

"Please place your key in the slot," said Bloodtroth. When Harry complied, he said, "Turn clockwise as I turn counterclockwise." Harry turned on command and there was a loud clang from behind the vault door. "Now, place your Black Lordship ring in the space provided."

Harry did so as Bloodtroth placed his hand in the other side. As he did, there was a flash of magic, similar to what happened at Hogwarts with the ward control stone, followed by about a dozen louder sounds. The sounds were akin to large blocks of metal being thrown back against metal followed by an ominous rotating sound.

There was a brief pause after the rotating sound stopped. After a moment, the door split evenly down the middle cutting the _'L'_ in Black in two. The door then slid forward out from the wall before sliding to the side. The two half's finally came to a rest as they were flush against the wall allowing easy access to the vault.

As Harry walked into the vault, he noticed several things about the vault door. On each half of the door was a large metal bar that then forked off in four directions. The pieces extended form the center of the door where it was attached to a post. In the wall of the vault, there were four large square holes on either side, big enough for the forks to fit and lock down the door. There was also several holes and spots in the pieces where something else seemed to attach.

Harry thought it had something to do with what was now hidden in the sides of the vault entrance. Unlike the forks, these two were not identical. On the left side was a large column. The column was then attached via two thick beams to the wall near the door and appeared to be able to rotate from the inside of the vault to the door. The column was strait with larger disc portions evenly spaced across it. There were also two large circle holes in the floor and ceiling. It appeared to rest in them when the vault was closed.

What was on the right was a mess. Harry didn't think there was anything he would see like it again. It was a complex web of bars, beams, gears, and large claws. Looking from what he could only describe as a thing, to the door; Harry thought it was a final locking piece. It appeared to lock onto the column on the left side, the door, and the 'forks' as he took to calling them. It also appeared to reinforce the door.

Bloodtroth must have noticed him taking interest in the door because he said, "One of our oldest and most proven vault security measures Lord Potter. The vault is forever sealed unless several conditions are fulfilled. The vault must have a Gringotts key, that only a goblin can use, and the owners key. It must also have proof by magic that the goblin is a goblin," Bloodtroth paused. "The vault door must also have proof that you are the head of the vaults family. Only a human can were the headship rings. And only the proper head of the family may bear the ring."

Nodding, Harry entered the vault with Daphne behind him. In the center of the vault floor there was a pile of currency. The pile was as large as his trust fund pile, if perhaps a bit smaller. The vault was rather roomy on the inside, with enough room for a bookshelf on one side and some old furniture. Looking at the books, Harry was unsurprised to find that many of them were on the Dark Arts. There was nothing else of interest in the vault besides the portrait of Sirius from the will reading. Harry seeing it wanted to talk to his late godfather, but the portrait was sleeping and Harry did not want to 'disturb' him.

Eyeing the selection of books on the shelf, Harry grabbed a trunk and filled it with titles he was unfamiliar seeing from the Potter Manor library. Making sure the books were properly stored in the trunk, he then shrunk it down to a manageable size. The trunk, which was big enough for a body, was now the size of a ring box capable of fitting in his pocket.

Finished with the Black vault Harry, Daphne, and Bloodtroth departed for the Grindelwald vault. The vault of the previous Dark Lords family was much deeper than the Black vault. When asked why, Bloodtroth explained the Blacks had the only maximum-security vault close to the surface. Apparently, the family was uncomfortable being deep down in goblin tunnels. Harry couldn't imagine why.

On the way to the Grindelwald vault, they passed a dragon. As they passed the dragon, Bloodtroth had to use a strange device that made a clanking noise, calming the dragon and allowing them to pass. After the Tri-wizard tournament, Harry never wanted to deal with another dragon. Seeing one up close made him nervous enough.

Arriving at the vault the party exited the mine cart. Harry observed that this vault door was much more elegant and finely designed. The face of the vault door was made from silver and had a larger version of what Harry thought to be the complete Grindelwald crest. It had two wolves on their hind legs facing each other. With their front paws, they were holding up something. It took a moment for Harry to realize it, but they were holding what was supposed to be a solar eclipse. What was the sun was the only part of the vault done in gold, while the moon was made from obsidian.

Between the wolves but below the solar eclipse, was a pyramid. In the inside of it was written '_dunkel ist mit Licht gemacht'_. Unlike most families whose mottos were in Latin, the House of Grindelwald was in German. Translated it said _'Dark is made with light'_.

"So, how do we open the vault," said Harry as they stood there for a moment.

"Forgive me Lord Potter, but this vault requires a blood sacrifice," said Bloodtroth nervously.

"Of course it does," Harry replied snidely. Daphne had to fight a smile at his biting tone and was glad it was he, and not her opening the vault. Gringotts blood vaults could be painless or brutal. "Very well," Harry sighed. "What must I do?"

"Please place your left hand on the moon," said Bloodtroth.

Harry did so and noting happened for a moment. Soon however the moon rotated in place. The obsidian moon was _not_ smooth. It was textured to look like the moon and was able to shred the surface of his hand. Copious amounts of blood spilled from his palm before flowing down the moon to the wolf's legs. Harry kept his hand there until he knew it worked, even though he was in pain. The legs of the creatures were positioned just right to allow the blood to drain into slots where their throat would be. Slots that Harry never noticed until his blood drained into them.

The blood continued to trickle down the slots until the moon portion of the seal shot forward suddenly. It was followed by a bright light from behind the moon. The light reflected off of the golden sun throwing the bright beams far and wide. The bright light that now filled the area turned the moon from a black disk to a deep foreboding void. Harry was so captivated by the depth of the dark moon that he never felt the feeling in his hand change.

The whole ordeal only lasted a few moments. It stopped when the moon retreated into its place. This revealed the key slot. After using the key, the familiar sound of a vault unlocking could then be heard. Unlike the Black vault, this vault opened like a normal door. Harry jumped back in surprise as the vault door pivoted on its hinge to open. He then looked down at his damaged hand and was surprised to find it almost completely healed. It was still sore but no longer bleeding. He briefly wondered why his had was to injured more or taken clean off.

Harry turned to Daphne, "Remind me never to visit this vault unless absolutely necessary," he grumbled to her.

The corner of her mouth twitched up a little, "I'll keep that in mind," she said. "But you," here she walked closer to him and poked him in the shoulder, "might want to get used to that sort of thing."

"What, why?" said a panicked Harry.

"Some things just require a little spilt blood." Daphne Said. "For vaults, it's basically the only sure security method."

"That's just great," Harry, said mockingly, "I suppose that means I have to take a blood bank with me wherever I go."

"What's a blood bank," asked Daphne.

Harry looked at her for a moment realizing she didn't know because it was a muggle thing. As Harry explained what a blood bank was, Daphne grew alarmed. Never before had she seen what she would call ignorance at work. Blood was a very, very, powerful substance in their world. It was used in many rituals (both light and dark), ceremonies, and some old rites for those families who still practiced such things. When blood was willingly given to another, strange things could happen. She would tell Harry her thoughts later as it may be helpful to his plans of conquest.

Inside the vault, they, like the black vault, found many tomes relating to the dark arts. The books from the Black vault leaned more to dark spells. The ones in the Grindelwald vault however covered a broad spectrum of dark subjects. The collection was not only broad, but deep as well. Many of the books appeared to be rare, one of a kind printings and journals.

"Harry look at this," whispered Daphne.

Harry looked up from where he was currently browsing and moved over to where she was. Daphne was standing next to an old steel cage. The cage looked like it intended to be hung from the ceiling to keep prisoners. It appeared to be made out of iron. However, where the rivets would be to hold it together was diamonds. Along every surface of the object were hundreds of runes. Some of them were large, others small.

"What is it," Harry asked.

"It's a sole cage," Daphne said terrified, and with good reason.

"Soul cage," Harry raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't look like it could hold a soul."

"Not that soul," she said with sarcasm. "S-O-L-E, It holds a single person, amplifies their magic, and then uses their magic to keep them alive through nearly anything as they're tortured."

The cage only worked so long as there was a person inside of it. If the cage had a strong pool of magic to feed from, it could keep someone alive almost indefinitely. The cage was also nearly impossible to destroy. Most of the runes along its surface were to keep the magic flowing across all the diamonds, and focused on the prisoner. There were others, small ones, which were used to keep the cage indestructible, short of tossing it into a volcano.

"We should destroy it," Harry said after a while. He had the sarcophagi already; he did not need any more ways to torture people. Though he thought, it might be good to have options.

"Impossible to," said Daphne with a shaky voice. "We should leave it here for now, until we need it or can destroy it."

Harry quickly agreed and the continued to search the vault with Daphne. They didn't find anything else of real interest in the vault. In addition to the many tomes and journals relating to the dark arts, there was some on spell creation. Creating his own spells was not something Harry was interested in for now. He was more concerned about learning spells and theory already out there first. Later he would dive into the subject more along with potion making and alchemy, seeing as he had a Philosophers stone.

There were also some ordinary spells books in the vault. Harry curiously picked up a few and skimmed through them. A lot of the spells contained in them were, and functioned like spells he already knew. The difference however was that many contained a flair for the dramatic. There was a piercing hex in one that was described as 'emitting a screaming wail' as it flew from the casters wand. One of the more disgusting ones however, was a dark organ exploding curse that '_causes the skin above the bursting organ to bubble and roll_' before exploding.

Not finding anything else of interest in the vault Harry and Daphne prepared to leave. It was on the way out that a previously nondescript chest caught his attention. It he didn't think it was of much value until he read the two crests on the top. Then Harry thought if there were a picture of it, it would be perfect next the definition of 'treasure chest'.

It was a brown wooden box with flat sides and a flat top. It was held together by simple iron fastenings with iron rivets. The only from of security it seemed to have was a simple latch with a padlock. It did not appear that there were any protections around it but Harry was unable to find the key.

The first crest was the same as the vault door, not surprising. It was even was labeled as the Grindelwald crest below with the addition of the previous Dark Lords name. The other crest was what caught his attention. It was an elegant shield with the head of a Ram above it. On the left side was a long sword, while the right a wand. Below the shield, there was two flowing banners, one with _'Albus'_ and the other with _'Dumbledore'_.

This lead Harry to believe it was not the crest of House Dumbledore, rather Albus' personal crest. There was also _another_ symbol on the chest. Harry was hesitant to call it a crest, as it was far too simple. It was also meaningless as far as he could tell.

'_Really,'_ Harry thought _'what's the point of a line running through a circle and triangle?'_

Curious as to why Dumbledore's name was on a chest in the vault of a dark family, Harry shrunk it down. He then stuffed it in his pocket with the chest from the Black vault. Daphne noticed his interactions with the chest and smiled. She too was curious about it.

On their way out of the vault Bloodtroth spoke to them, "Lord Potter, per instructions left in Grindelwald family charter, you must submit a design for the vault door."

"Excuse me?" said Daphne.

Bloodtroth grumbled for a moment, "The House of Grindelwald charter _requires_ that the current Head or controller of the vault re-craft the vault face at their discretion."

"Isn't that expensive?" Daphne inquired. Custom crafted vault faces were possible, as evident by the one they just left. Unusually it was only done with old family vaults in the supper-max high security section. It was also expensive and only offered to those who could pay the 250,000 galleon base cost. That did not include the cost of artist fees, materials, or custom security features that most needed.

"It is normally quite expensive, the current face cost well over 750,000 galleons," said Bloodtroth with a smile. "However, to facilitate an easier time funding such changes, the House of Grindelwald was provided a special line of interest."

Daphne frowned, special line of interest usually meant that the goblins usually _took_ money. Not give it away. "And what exactly is this, arrangement?" she asked.

"If I submit a new door design," started Harry. "Can I get rid of the bloody security system?"

"You may," Bloodtroth answered Harry. "For the arrangement, I'm afraid we can't disclose the particulars," Harry was about to say something but stopped when Bloodtroth interrupted, "even to the head of the family. The arrangement was very specific with the family head at the time. Both parties signed confidential and binding magical contracts to never disclose the exact agreements to anyone, ever".

Daphne was astounded. The goblins rarely ever made magical contracts, as they knew they would be forced to comply with the contents. They made contracts yes, but they were affording some leeway with normal contracts. The fact that the contract with the House of Grindelwald was magically binding, as well as so secret, alarmed her. However, as there was no possible way to discover exactly what it was at the time, they moved on.

The party climbed back onto the cart and they were off. This time the ride was much longer. It was also, hotter. Harry was confused by the heat until they traveled a bit further.

Straight in front of them was the largest door Harry had seen outside of the Hogwarts. In fact, if Harry didn't know any better, he was looking at the Hogwarts main door directly in front of him, an unknown depth underground. It was about three times as tall as it was wide. The largest difference to the Hogwarts main gate was a giant version of the Hogwarts crest that adorned the front.

The whole scene was made to look even more ominous by the source of the heat. Flanking a distance from either side of the door was a large dragon. They were not just any species of dragon either, but Hungarian Horntails. That made Harry nervous. What made him scared was that there was two more by the exit. He never saw them before as the vault was in its own cave like area, recessed deeply into the wall. What scared him more was the fact that there were more dragons above them.

The recess had been carved out to provide room for seven dragons. There were the four dragons on the main level, and three above. The dragons above however, were not Hungarian horntails. They were long and slender. Their scales were a brilliant red with tinges of gold, _Chinese Fireballs._ They got their name from the fact that the fire they shot out was in the shape of a mushroom cloud. Harry suspected that anything short of an army of giants would be completely incinerated before they could even get to the door. He also wondered if the Horntails would survive the fiery assault of the Chinese Fireballs. However, he didn't particularly care given his last encounter with them.

Climbing out of the cart, Harry and Daphne warily followed Bloodtroth to the giant door. The older goblin seemed completely unfazed by the dragons around them. Bloodtroth walked from the cart to the large door where he placed his hand. The door then shimmered from top to bottom and opened with a loud groan. The dragons that were previous eyeing them suspiciously then seemed to relax.

Harry was expecting to see a large pile of coins, the like of which he had never seen before inside. What was beyond the door however, was a decent sized sitting area. Several tables and chairs that looked incredibly comfortable. On the tables were fresh pitchers of water and cold glasses. Behind the sitting area were four large doors. Each door bore the crest of a founder along with their names. All of the vaults shone brilliantly in their house colors.

"You may wish to have a seat," said Bloodtroth doing just that. "We will need Director King Ragnok to open the vaults and it may be some time before he arrives."

Harry was unsurprised by this. Given what he was told earlier it was somewhat expected. It did not take long for Ragnok to arrive and while they waited, they helped themselves to something to drink. Ragnok was dressed much the same as he was the last they met. With him were also four goblin guards in full battle armor. There was another eight standing guard around the mine carts.

"Greetings Harry," said Ragnok as he approached.

"Ragnok," Harry gave a polite bow to appear slightly more formal with the Goblin King who smiled at the gesture. "I trust you are well."

Ragnok gave a hearty goblin laugh; "I am doing well, Thank you Lord Black," the King paused for a moment. "Or perhaps you're going by Potter now?" Ragnok smirked.

"It seems to be Potter for the day," Harry laughed in return.

"Indeed," Ragnok smiled wider. "Since we have last met, I have been able to prepare a complete listing of all your assets. I suggest you sit down and look them over when you have adequate time."

"I thank you Ragnok and I will make sure I can do that soon. I admit to being curious as to the exact nature of my accounts and vaults," said Harry. "On that note, how successful have you been with those acquisitions I've requested?"

"The muggle companies were easy enough to gain control over in a short period," said the goblin King. "Early bids have started for the Butterbeer Company and looks like it will go smoothly. However, the owners of the prophet have been rather hard to… persuade."

Harry frowned, "if you have to, buy them out. I'd like to see the paper turn into something other than a gossip column. It would also prove most useful in the future. However much I rather not spend a dime for the piece of garbage it is now, I simply must have it."

"I understand Lord Potter, and will make you aware of any news should it develop."

"That is all I can ask from you," smiled Harry.

While Harry was talking to Ragnok, Daphne was standing behind him rather shocked. Here was Harry Potter, the potential next Dark Lord, having a friendly chat with the Goblin _King_. The number of human's worthy of his time could barely be counted on your hand, if that. The number of humans that were able _just_ to talk with him was even less.

Harry turned around and looked at Daphne; it was still foreign thinking of her as his wife. He smiled when she saw her trying to work out what she was seeing. Harry knew it must have been a shock for her to watching him converse simply with Ragnok. Turning slightly and walking Harry grabbed her hand and led her over.

"Ragnok," said Harry. "May I present my wife, Daphne Potter?"

"It is a pleasure to meet you Lady Potter," spoke Ragnok politely.

"You as well, Director King Ragnok," Daphne returned politely, if a little awe struck.

Ragnok smiled bearing teeth, "If you are a friend and wife of Lord Potter, I insist you call me Ragnok," Daphne nodded. "Besides, that's not even my full title." He chuckled to himself.

"What is your full title if you don't mind me asking," Harry asked.

"Lord Director King Ragnok the Ninth of the Global Goblin Banking Conglomerate Confederation."

"Wow," Harry breathed then made an odd noise somewhere between a chuckle and a grunt. "Makes my title seem boring," He then commented quietly.

"Indeed, however I too hate my title Lord Potter," Ragnok said catching what Harry said. "My title actually makes no sense, as Gringotts has never been a conglomerate or a confederation."

Harry nodded in understanding before they got down to the reason they were there. Ragnok and Bloodtroth had to place keys in a door, before Harry placed his hand upon it opening the vault. Harry thought it was far too simple so he asked about the simple security to open the vaults.

The keys for the founder vaults were special. They both contained focuses that channeled their magic into the door. They were unable to be used as wands however. The keys were a combination of things and functioned similar to how the Black vault was opened. There was one other change as because of Ragnok's position he had a unique magic confirming him as the Goblin King. The key Harry had confirmed him as the heir at the same time.

The trip had pretty much fallen into routine at this point. The basic contents of all the vaults were the same. They all held money, books, furniture, paintings, old portraits, and odd collections of personal items. The vaults of the founders were no different except for one major thing. In addition to piles of coin, there were large stacks of silver bars.

Upon opening the Gryffindor vault, they were greeted with a large pile of galleons almost as tall as they were. To the right of the pile of galleons were several pallets. Each pallet was carrying a load of silver bars about five feet high and perfectly arranged. Seeing that they were obviously precious metals and therefore valuable, Harry turned to Ragnok while Daphne wandered.

"What's the silver bars for," said Harry to Ragnok. "I thought I only had galleons in these vaults."

"Those stacks Lord Potter are _not_ silver," Drawled Ragnok in a disappointed manner. "They are platinum."

"Platinum," squeaked Daphne from the stack of Galleons. She had picked up one in her relative boredom and inspected it. One could tell when new coins were added to the stack and how about how long ago by the amount of dust on some.

"Yes platinum," Ragnok reiterated. "It's the work of the Gringotts Gold Protection act of 1492. You see, some families began to horde their gold and preferred to deal in sickles and Knuts unless necessary. It became so bad at one point Galleons could hardly be found outside of Gringotts. It was then that the act was created. The act allowed us to convert a percentage of the galleons into these bars. That put us in a position where we could distribute them about making galleons more available to all."

While Harry listened to Ragnok, he snuck a few peaks at Daphne. She was currently looking between the piles of galleons to the stacks of platinum bars with an odd look. It was somewhere between awe and total confusion.

Harry was smiling on the inside watching her try to process how much was actually there. "Galleons are so much more plentiful today," said Harry. "Why is the act still around today?"

"This is true," Ragnok started. "As gold has become more abundant the act was less enforced for most vaults. Very few vaults have need of platinum bars anymore. The act, now only applies to vaults that reach one trillion galleons. From there we take 80 percent and convert it to platinum bars. The only other account that stores most of its currency in platinum is the Ministry's."

"I thought Platinum was extremely rare, how is it Gringotts has even this much?" Harry asked gesturing to the stacks.

"It is, that's what makes it so valuable and ideal for this use," Ragnok then seemed to pause and draw himself up. "For muggles it is difficult to mine because of their inefficiency. We goblins however, have much more efficient techniques for getting the most ore out of a deposit. We can also mine deeper accessing larger deposits."

Something Ragnok had said started to bother Harry. If gold galleons were quite rare in 1492, then how did the founder's vaults amass such a fortune when they were much older? Surely, even if the vaults were collecting interest it would not result in that type of wealth. There was also the problem of Harry being the heir. Wouldn't any money the founders possessed at the time of their deaths be passed on, and become part of the Potter fortune?

When asked those very same questions Ragnok replied, "Yes, the money the founders you hail from was passed on to the Potter line becoming part of the fortune. However, the money here in these vaults comes from the profit made by Hogwarts since the death of the founders. The items in the vaults however, did belong to the founders. We are unsure why they were stored here, rather than in the Potter vault with their passed on monetary assets."

"Is it possible to withdraw money from these vaults as platinum bars," Inquired Daphne from her gold addled mind.

"That's another part of the act that made these bars in the first place," Ragnok spoke. "The platinum bars are traded for a percentage of gold galleons in the vault. From there they may only be converted back to galleons if the vault dips below a set level. The platinum bars may not be withdrawn or converted. They may only be used as currency during the commission of large projects or large transfers to maintain a stable amount of galleons."

Daphne nodded and went back to ogling the pile of coins. Breaking her from her trance, her and Harry started to actually explore the vaults.

The Gryffindor vault contained many weapons. There were swords, shields, and many magical suits of armor. The armor was specifically enchanted to be as light and strong as possible. They weren't unbreakable, as the charm for it was unknown at the time. They did however have several weak cooling charms.

Harry expected the vault to contain books on defense in the vault. While he did find some, it was not what he expected. Most of the defensive books there were on wards and fortifications, not very good ones by modern standards. Harry didn't think a ward to destroy '_disease infected corpses'_ would be any use now. Neither would one to turn the armor of any invading forces to dust. It would have been more useful if plate armor were still around.

What was useful in terms of books contained offensive spells. Harry supposed that the founder of a house often considered rash or impulsive would have offensive spell books. As far as Harry and Daphne could tell as they went over them is that most would be considered 'light' or at the very least, 'light grey'. While many of the spells killed or mortally wounded, none were untreatable or caused the type of harm or pain associated with the dark arts.

One spell was aptly names '_Thor's Hammer'_. What the spell did was compress and blast out a mighty burst of air, causing any within a small arc of the caster to be blasted back. The force generated was capable of cracking ribs and flinging unarmored opponents into the air.

There were quite a few books in trunks Harry wanted to take with him back to the manor. However, he no longer had any room. When asked if there was a way Gringotts could send it to him he was provided a piece of yellow chalk. The chalk was magical so it would not stain or destroy anything marked with it. With it Harry was told to put an 'X' on anything, he wanted transported to Potter Manor.

The Ravenclaw vault contained an immense collection of books. The vault contained a pair of magical bookcases. Each was about five feet tall by thee wide. They were able to hold more books at first look by 'compressing' them into the sides of the shelves. A person could then scroll through the collection until they found what they wanted. For something so old, it was incredibly advanced. Daphne went so far as to tell him there was nothing else like them in the world.

There was also a vast selection of tapestries in the vault. Many of them were artistic in nature. However, some were more educational. Arithmancy charts, runes, and constellations were all spilled across fabric threads. Every visual aid a student of the time would need was available across cloth.

If the Gryffindor vault was surprising so was the Slytherin vault. It contained the same basic things as the other two, including books on the dark arts. It also included many books on defense. Not only books on wards but personal ones as well. There was a design for a personal ward, a ward that could be worn on the person. According to the sketches, Slytherin intended for it give the wearer a sort of sixth sense that allowed them to be aware of any spells, or persons that might wish to stab you in the back.

Finished exploring the vaults, they left. As they were leaving, Daphne noticed something. "Ragnok, could you explain to me why there is an active Hufflepuff vault if there is no heir?"

"You noticed that did you," commented Ragnok. "That is something that confuses us goblins as well. As you could tell, the vault is still active, if it were not it would lose all color and be sealed forever. Such is the spell placed upon the vaults. That is not the case with the Hufflepuff vault; it has remained as bright as the day she lived."

"Could the spell have been miscast?" asked Harry.

"No, we believe there is something else going on," responded Ragnok. "Either Helga produced an heir that escaped our notice, or there is an eligible bastard line we are unaware of. Perhaps there might be some other force at work. If there is indeed an heir out there we have no knowledge who they are or what line they hail from."

Leaving and locking up the vaults once again the party left. As they exited once again through the main doors, the goblin warriors that escorted Ragnok formed a column on either side. Wishing Harry well the Goblin King climbed aboard his cart with his guards before speeding off to the surface once more.

Harry and his party did the same after climb about their cart. On the way up to the surface, they made one last stop at the Potter vault.

Like the Grindelwald vault, the Potter vault also had a design on its face. It was a simple shield split into four quadrants. On the face of the shield was the profile view of a knight's helmet. On either side of the shield was part of a wreath. Below the shield form there was a sword that had lion's heads on the guard crossed with a staff with a snake wrapped around it. To an outsider the items were a simple sword and Caduceus but were much more to those who knew the truth. Slightly below that was the family name _'POTTER'_.

Opening the vault was relatively simple. Like the founders vaults Harry was given a special key with a focus in it. After opening, a discrete place for the key Harry opened the vault. Once there was a crack in the seal around the vault door, the three were greeted with the most annoying thing in the world… bad singing.

"875,987 bottles of butterbeer on the wall, 875,987 bottles of butterbeer…"

"James! Stop already!"

"Take one down pass it around…"

"JAMES," the second voice sounded again, "you're lucky I don't have a wand!"

"Love you too Lily dear, 875,986 bottles of butterbeer…" this was followed by a cry of frustration from Lily's portrait.

"JAMES POTTER, STOP! We Have guests!"

"OH! Guests, where are they?" said the portrait of James Potter looking around the vault.

It was then that Harry and Daphne walked into the vault. Realizing from the names who was speaking Daphne placed a comforting arm around Harry was they walked in. Clear of the door Harry looked to his right to see the portrait of his parents.

In the brief silence that followed all Harry was able to say was, "Mom, Dad?"

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Notes:<strong> You probably saw that ending coming. I didn't want to bore you with so many vaults in the same chapter. Besides, with what I have in mind for the Potter and things coming up it would not have fit right with that last chapter.

Now, you're probably wondering why I left it open for an heir of Hufflepuff. I wanted to leave that possibility open. It didn't feel right leaving Harry as the only heir. Now, I know I said she died without an heir in chapters previous. We will get a full explanation soon with some of the books Harry's carting off.

Now that that stuff is out of the way let's move on to other things shall we.

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><p><em><strong>Authors Note on Relationships…<strong>_

There have been quite a few reviews requesting a multi fic. That said people have requested Ginny, Fleur, Hermione, Tracy, and Susan the most. That list is not who will actually be chosen. Just what people keep requesting of me. Actually, that is really close to what I was thinking. Except for Fleur, sorry Fleur fans but she will most likely not take part in the ship. Neither will Gabrielle, I don't think I need to explain why.

For actual marriage like relationships with Harry, I was going to add no more than three others max. That is likely only to turn into one. Harry will probably have a few occasional lovers for either fun or favors. Some of you probably think this will then turn into a giant lemon fic, well don't worry. While there will probably be a few lemons, I will not ad them just to add them and keep a majority of the focus on the plot.

* * *

><p>Anyways, hope you like this chapter. Even as tedious as it was. Not a whole lot going on but it sets a few things up for later. It was a pain getting everything working right in it. I actually had it finished last Friday but had to keep editing out silly littler errors. I'm sure those who are anal about that sort of thing will still find some. At this point if it's not a major error or something that completely <strong>fracks<strong> up the meaning of sentence, I don't really care.


	7. Portraits

Harry Potter, The New Dark Lord

**AN: Is this really an update? Why yes it is. The first bit is just a recap because of the long update. You're welcome to skip it.**

**Extended AN at bottom.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: Portraits<strong>

_**Recap…**_

_Like the Grindelwald vault, the Potter vault also had a design on its face. It was a simple shield split into four quadrants. On the face of the shield was the profile view of a knight's helmet. On either side of the shield was part of a wreath. Below the shield form there was a sword that had lion's heads on the guard crossed with a staff with a snake wrapped around it. To an outsider the items were a simple sword and Caduceus but were much more to those who knew the truth. Slightly below that was the family name 'POTTER'._

_Opening the vault was relatively simple. Like the founders vaults Harry was given a special key with a focus in it. After opening, a discrete place for the key Harry opened the vault. Once there was a crack in the seal around the vault door, the three were greeted with the most annoying thing in the world… bad singing._

"_875,987 bottles of butterbeer on the wall, 875,987 bottles of butterbeer…"_

"_James! Stop already!"_

"_Take one down pass it around…"_

"_JAMES," the second voice sounded again, "you're lucky I don't have a wand!"_

"_Love you too Lily dear, 875,986 bottles of butterbeer…" this was followed by a cry of frustration from Lily's portrait._

"_JAMES POTTER, STOP! We Have guests!"_

"_OH! Guests, where are they?" said the portrait of James Potter looking around the vault._

_It was then that Harry and Daphne walked into the vault. Realizing from the names who was speaking Daphne placed a comforting arm around Harry was they walked in. Clear of the door Harry looked to his right to see the portrait of his parents. _

_In the brief silence that followed all Harry was able to say was, "Mom, Dad?"_

:HPTNDL:

"Harry…" whispered the portrait of Lilly Potter, a weak smile forming on her face.

"Hello Son," followed the portrait of James Potter. "Your mother and I were wondering when you would decide to visit us."

"That was until your father," Lily said with sarcasm "decided to pass the time with his, musical talent". This caused Daphne to snicker, drawing the attention of the portraits.

"Oh," said James. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Daphne Greengrass…I mean Potter," replied Daphne.

"Greengrass? Hm… I've heard that name before," said James while rubbing the side of his face. "I seem to recall a Nathanial Greengrass from Hogwarts," he then said quietly in thought.

"He's my father," said Daphne guessing his next question of they were related.

Lily was about to speak when they were brought out of the moment by Bloodtroth who coughed lightly. Giving them a gentle reminder where they were. It was then that the four potters agreed they would need to have a talk later. Lily even threatened that it would take place, even if she had to shuffle the portrait around. Weather she could do so or not did not matter. The pair of teens did not want to find out otherwise.

After agreeing to talk later, Harry shrunk down the portrait and placed it in a protective container intended for portraits. It was about the size of a metal cigarette case with a small lock and the Potter crest on its face. He then placed it in one of his inside robe pockets, careful to insure it was safe. Taking a quick glance around the vault, Harry decided to grab what they really came for. They could take a closer look around later.

After voicing this to Daphne, she agreed and they started to search the vault for the stone. It did not take long to find. The object of their search was actually about mid-way into the vault. They only discovered it because atop the container it was it was a letter from Nickolas Flamel, to the Potters. The box its self was also eye catching.

It was sitting on top of an ornate desk. It was made from a strange stone that was almost black in color. On each side was a circle with strange markings all around it. The markings were set up in seven rings until there was a circular smooth section in the center. Picking up the letter, Harry opened it up and read.

_Dear Potters,_

_There is mush history between our houses. Therefore, it is only right that I give our closest allies and more importantly, friends, my greatest creation. Use it to change the world, or simply watch over humanity. Whatever your do with it, use it well. _

_To get what I have left to you, the box opens at the Potters natural tongue._

_P.S. Should you need it, I've also included all of my research into its construction._

_Sincerely,_

_Nicholas Flamel_

Harry handed Daphne the letter. Taking it, she quickly read the letter as well before passing it back to Harry. Gently folding the letter up, he placed it in his pocket.

Taking one last look around the vault Harry and Daphne exited the vault and returned to the surface. There they said goodbye to Bloodtroth and exited the bank.

"Harry," said Daphne. "Are you ok?"

"I'm," he paused, "not sure."

Daphne nodded, "Let's go, we can talk at home."

Without a sound, Harry pulled out a portkey and handed it out to Daphne. She grabbed on to it and they promptly disappeared. They reappeared outside the manor gates, just where they left this morning. Dispelling the brief disorientation that came with traveling by portkey, they made their way inside.

Once inside Harry set down his cargo on the floor and enlarged them once more. He then pulled out the letters he got earlier and set them down on a small table. He would read them later, after he talked to his parents in a proper setting.

"Daphne, how do I turn down those wards you were talking about before," Harry asked.

"I'm not sure, try calling for an elf." She replied.

"Mindy," called Harry.

"Yes master Harry," said the elf as she popped in.

"Could you tell me how to turn down the wards; it seems I've not been getting my mail."

"Oh yes master, you can be adjusting the wards in the basement, or Mindy can be doing it for you."

Harry thought about it for a moment, "go ahead and do it Mindy. I have other things to deal with right now." Harry then turned to Daphne, "I'd like to be… alone at first."

She weakly smiled and gently touched his shoulder, "I understand," she said softly. "I'll be in the library if you need to find me." She then quietly walked off leaving Harry there for a moment before he too left.

Making sure the protective portrait case was still in his pocket, Harry left for one of the private studies. Once there he called Mindy to retrieve a portrait stand. Once the elf returned with what he requested, Harry removed his parents portrait and placed it on the stand followed by sitting on a couch across from it.

"Mom, Dad?"

Waking up from her 'sleep', the portrait of Lily Potter looked around for a moment before speaking. "Hello Harry dear."

Getting reacquainted, Harry and the portrait drifted off into comfortable conversation. There were moments of anger and depression as Harry told them of his life. Hearing what his youth was like, Lily demanded a body so she could destroy her 'sister'. Harry would like to letter her but her essence in the portrait was unable to perform such feet's.

James was just as agitated to hear about his son's youth. He was able to conceal this however with fatherly pride after hear of his sons adventures. He was a little disappointed to hear Harry had tied the knot so young however. A young man such as his son should be out enjoying his youthful freedom. Nevertheless, he supposed, it couldn't be helped. He just hoped Harry would be as happy as he was.

Though Harry knew they were only portraits, painted images on canvas with a little magic, Harry continued talking with them. No substitute for the real lost so long ago, this was one of the best moments of his life, real or not for the change to talk to his parents.

:**HPTNDL:**

Elsewhere in the house, Daphne was in the manor library. She was currently looking over some of the things they liberated from the vaults earlier that very day. There were two things that really interested her, the first was the chest from the Grindelwald vault. Daphne was working hard to crack open the hushed chest. However, this was proving to be difficult and she continued to ponder and method to open it up, spilling its secret contents.

The other box, though she knew the contents, was even more desirable. Inside lay the philosopher's stone and if the accompanying letter was believed all of the research that went into making it. If she was honest with herself however, part of her was uncertain about it now. Something as powerful as the stone must have a cost to it. It made her uneasy not knowing even with answers so close.

It was some time later when Daphne was interrupted from her thoughts when her husband entered the room. Though it was her idea, being married would take some getting used to. Looking at him, she could see a tired but happy appearance to him.

"Well," she stared out gently. "How was it? Talking to your parents like that."

Harry's smiled grew as he sat down on the couch next to her and pulled her close. He held her tightly enjoying the closeness before speaking softly. "Good, it was good."

"That's nice to hear," she replied. "It must have been, you seem… lighter."

"Lighter?" Harry asked raising an eyebrow.

Raising a hand up and caressing his face she elaborated, "I noticed when you came in, you carried yourself differently. It was as if some weight was lifted from your shoulders and all was suddenly right."

"In a way things are. People have always told me about my parents, what good people they were. And now, I was able to find out for myself if even just a little." Harry said softly before leaning is head bad and closing his eyes.

"Tired?"

"Yeah, a little." Harry replied. "Today has been… emotional."

Freeing herself from his gentle grasp, Daphne stood up and pulled him with her. "Then let's go to bed." She said matter-of-factly. "Everything else can wait until tomorrow."

Harry smiled graciously as he nodded yes. He and his wife left for their bedchamber and a comfortable pace holding the others hand still, a friendly silence penetrating the air. Soon the pair was in bed ready to sleep spooning against each other holding the other close. Sleep claimed them not soon after, the two unaware what tomorrow would bring.

**-HPTNDL-**

Though it was early in the evening by the time they went to bed, the pair slept well into the next morning. Harry was the first to wake as he sat up, the bed sheets falling from his rising form. Looking to his right he saw that Daphne was still sleeping soundly. Her long blonde hair was behind her in a neat braid. Harry took a moment to gaze at her sleeping form and realized just how beautiful she really was. A smile played on his lips as he leaned down the kiss her cheek gently before climbing out of bed.

After getting dressed, he made his way to the study after grabbing a stack of letters. He guessed one of the elves set up an easy and convenient place to pick up the mail. However, he preferred the letters to be displayed so publicly and noted to talk to the elves about changing it. For now however he had more important things

First was a letter from Ginny. He was curios why the littlest Weasley was writing to him and so opened the letter with the swish of a letter opener. The soft sound of the sharp blade slitting the envelope open filled the study briefly. Sliding out the missive Harry began to read.

_Harry,_

_I don't know what happened at the will reading, but Mom and Ron returned in a foul mood. Even before they opened the door I could hear them screeching about you. Never had I heard such foul language coming from either of them. They were calling you 'an ungrateful brat' or a 'pampered orphan' among other things._

_Harry, I'm scared. They were talking about things. How to control you, beat the evil out of you, and 'claim what is theirs, what they deserve'. I love my family but, not if all the love and care was a lie to cover up all this ugliness. _

_Please Harry, help me. I need to know the truth._

_Ginny_

Setting the letter on the envelope it came in, now on the desk, Harry thought deeply. On one hand, he felt she deserved the truth. On the other, he was weary that it was a trap of some sort. Not ever holding a real conversation with the littlest Weasley, he was in unknown waters. He would like to turn her to his side. Though she was small, she was a very powerful witch.

Coming to a decision, Harry grabbed a random useless object from the desk. Turning it into a phrase activated portkey. He then composed his reply.

_Ginny,_

_I'm surprised to be hearing from you. I thought Weasleys were about family first no matter what. I'm no doubt sure their language was much more colorful about me. If you wish to know the truth, I've included an object take you to my location. You will not know where until I know you are not collaborating with your mother and Ronald or others that bear ill will toward me._

_The activation phrase for the portkey may be painful, but I assure you it is necessary to prove you are in fact Ginny Weasley. The phrase is what you first said to be after waking up in the chamber._

_Harry_

The rest of the letters were from those present at the will reading. Most of what people wrote to him was junk. Things such as where was he to how was he doing, among other useless pleasantries. The most disappointing thing however was news that after the will reading the Dursleys were killed, presumably by Death Eaters. He had hoped to take care of them himself. '_Perhaps use them as research subjects?'_ He had thought evilly.

Sending off the letter to Ginny, he placed the rest into a small pile. He would answer then later. Right now, he had better things to do than write redundant letters. Going out to grab the Flamel box Harry set it down on the desk and grinned with devious joy. Rereading the letter that came on top of it, he said '_open_' in parseltongue.

The strange symbolic circles on the sides began to spin and shift. The symbols and edges of the circles glowed bright red. Once each section was done shifting, the top shifted slightly before moving up. The red light now filled the room with light. Though it was bright, it was not blinding. Soon the lid was up as far as it would go and swung aside as the light finally dimmed.

Immediately visible inside was a collection of books and leather bound journals. They were neatly stacked in various ways around the most important object. Directly in the middle was a package Familiar to something Harry saw before his first year. The plain cloth wrapping of the philosopher's stone. Harry took a moment to admire it before turning his attention to the journals. Without knowing how to use it, it was useless.

Looking through the journals Harry quickly found one that would be of interest to him, _The Life of Nicholas Flamel_.

**AN: I apologize for the supper long delay. I've actually had this written for some time but never got it to feel right. As it is now I hope you like it. Writers block has really been killing me. You, the readers, should also take note the next chapter is already almost done. It's coming along bits at a time. I find myself able only to write little chunks before the block comes back crushing further progress. I hope to have another update soon.**

**In addition, my first story is now abandoned. I may pick up 'Black Gate, Black Road, White empire' another time but right now I'd like to focus on this one and 'Black Bond'.**

**As always comments are appreciated but placed, don't hate on it too much.**

**-Echo**


	8. The Woes of a French Alchemist

**Harry Potter, The New Dark Lord**

**AN: Thanks for the reviews after the long absence! **

**Chapter 8: The Woes of a French Alchemist**

_The first few years of my life were spent as many are. I was raised by two loving parents, their names and occupations unimportant. However, they did manage to instill a sense of good and evil into me. They also exposed me to things that heightened my curiosity of the world and its great wonders. _

_Though we were of magical birth, we were not wealthy. However, we did live comfortably. I never went to a magical school. Instead, I learned mostly from my parents and books. A traveling merchant introduced into me a love for alchemy. After that meeting, I strove to learn all I could of the art. I talked to other practitioners, teachers, even bought many books. I set off at a furious pace testing and experimenting with anything I could. _

_It was not until my seventeenth year that I met the woman, who in every way but literally was my soul mate. If my experiment had not failed as it did, later becoming known as 'The Great Carriage Calamity of Babington France', I never would have met her. _

_At the time, I was working under inspiration, endeavoring to create a silver golem. During a portion of the experiment, something went terribly wrong. The puddle, as I had called it, suddenly became excited. It extended out like a whip it launched a container full of a volatile material from my desk._

_Before I knew what happened, the container in question flew outside as I mistakenly kept my windows open. It soon found its mark as it struck the outside back wall of a stable and exploded. This caused the horses inside to become terrified. Breaking free from their pens, they escaped from the stables and away from the frightening noise. As they bolted from their stables, someone managed to get some straps and cloths caught around them and dragged with the horses._

_When the whole mess was over half of the town was a disaster area. I had fished running to the center of damage, the town center, when the chaos had finally stopped. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday and all the muggle nobles were on the way to church in their top carriages and best clothes. The church of course was in the town center._

_Most of the carriages only had minor damage. Others were thoroughly trashed with their occupants climbing out with their best clothes ruined. The worst of these was a carriage of a magical family, the Sebile's. While not going to church they tended to do their shopping in town on Sundays. As soon as I saw their crest on one of the worst carriages, I broke out into a cold sweat. It was not that I feared the family, even with their subtle but strong power…_

Before Harry could really continue reading any more he was interrupted by a knocking at the door. Marking the page, he set the journal down in his lap before calling out "come in". Opening the door was Daphne. She was still in her nightgown but also wearing an evening robe over it. Her blonde hair already neatly brushed and draped around and down her shoulder in a neat fall.

"Good morning," she said as she opened the door. "Sleep well?" she smiled.

"I did," he replied. "Sorry I didn't wake you."

"Not a problem," Daphne grinned. "I rather enjoy that bed," she winked causing Harry to give a knowing smile. "Anyway, I'm hungry have you eaten yet?"

"No, I was actually just thinking about grabbing something."

Strolling further into the room Daphne grabbed the book out of his lap placing it on the desk. Then she gently grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him, without resistance, from the chair. "Then come on, even Dark Lords in training need to eat," she joked.

As they travelled to the dining room, Harry took note of their path as well as some of the décor. There were a few portraits along the walls In addition to the occasional suit of armor and shield and sword. There were even a few tables with vases or other decoration. Thought none of them had anything in them. He supposed it was because of the time the house was vacant and resolved to spruce up the place a little.

Walking by one of the paintings, Harry could not help but stare at it. It was of an old building, one he knew. The one in the portrait however looked as if it was just built. Instead of dark grey stone, it was a magnificent white. Sitting on the hill complete and unbroken it was a shining beacon among the landscape. Even the Forrest that surrounded it looked welcoming instead of sinister. Seeing this painting made harry vow, right then, that he would see Hogwarts returned to splendor as both a monument and a school.

Daphne, who had continued ahead without him stopped and turned looking for her wayward husband. Frowning she backtracked to the painting he was looking at. Seeing what it was, she was stricken by the beauty Hogwarts displayed long ago. Looking at the nameplate at the bottom of the frame, she took note of the artists name and that it was painted in 1001 A.D. or about eleven years after the school was founded.

"It was beautiful," Harry said.

"It still is, we'll soon restore it to that level beauty," said Daphne "now let's _eat."_ She continued a little commanding while pulling him away again.

"Yes we will," Harry, said full of conviction. "One of the first things we have to do before we rebalance the world." He finished before they started moving to the dining room.

As they moved on, Daphne thought about the changes in Harry. Not that she minded them at all. It was the speed and ferocity of those changes that puzzled her. She wondered just what caused this new darkness in him. She would ask him about it later. She vowed however to put a stop to the darkness should he become a monster. She knew that to achieve their goals they would need to kill some. However grim such business may be, she vowed she would never let Harry destroy for pleasure.

As the pair entered the dining area, they were greeted by another elf. Unlike Mandy, this elf had skin that was a cool steel grey in color. He had eyes similar to Dobby but a bright green with a crackling madness lurking behind. He had a thick mane of white greyish hair running down the middle of his head. Not unlike a Mohawk but pushed back for a more regal appearance. Coming from the elves high but gaunt cheekbones were tufts of white hair. The elf seemed to be wearing a dark, almost black burlap sack as a shirt along with gloves resembling oven mitts.

"Greetings Master," said the elf. Its voice came out sounding even and smooth. Harry could not help but think the elf had a cunning side that could put Slytherins to shame. "My name is Loki," continued the elf. "I am the primary chief for house Potter."

"Primary chief?" questioned Harry.

"Correct sire," replied Loki. "I am responsible overseeing the kitchen elves, maintaining the food stocks, and acquiring anything else that master or mistress desire."

"I see," Harry said slowly. "Well, Loki, we would like some breakfast"

"Yes master," Loki bowed before popping away. When the elf returned, he brought with him two others who pulled out two chairs from the table, one across from the other. The elves then set down glasses of water and napkins for them. The elves pushed the chairs back in as Harry and Daphne sat down. "Relax master, we shall return shortly with this morning's meal" Loki bowed again before disappearing again.

"But, you don't even know what I want…" Harry blankly said to the space where the elf once stood.

"Something tells me he already knows Harry," said a humored Daphne while placing down her glass of water the elves left her.

Harry just grumbled under his breath causing Daphne to smirk. While they were waiting for the elves to return, Harry took a moment to examine the dining room. It was quite grand and large even more so considering that the table was quite small. Harry suspected that it could be expanded when hosting large gatherings and formal occasions.

Most of the décor in the room was very elegant but not overly so. The wallpaper consisted of simple but elegant floral patterns. In the middle of the inside wall was a large marble fireplace. The hearth was raised up several inches from the floor and extended out. The inside of the fireplace was quite large. It was probably large enough to floo from though Harry hoped that was not the case.

The mantle was also made out of marble. It was sparsely decorated with only a small candle at each end. Above the mantle was a clock. It looked like it was built into the wall with a beautiful pine frame. The numerals were all made from a reflective black stone, probably obsidian, and were masterfully carved and set into the face.

"So Harry," said Daphne breaking him from his observations. "Have you found anything interesting in the journals?"

"No, not yet" Harry replied taking a sip of his own water. "So far it's just about how he Met Perenelle. Although entertaining, they are of little worth so far."

"That's disappointing," said Daphne. "You will find it in time I'm sure. Maybe you could skim through the pages until you find it?"

"I could, but I may miss something important," Harry replied while thinking of the books. Even though he had photographic memory, he rather read them. He rather learn of the man behind the stone and of its secrets.

Daphne nodded. Although she wanted the know how to use the stone as soon as possible she was not above waiting. Even a missed little detail should be disastrous in its use. Perhaps a little clue may even help them some other way. In either case, it would be a shame let potential knowledge go to waste.

Soon a silence drifted between them. Neither of them knew how to start a conversation with the other. Taking a few moments Daphne observed the room as Harry had. It was quite fancy and elaborate by her standards. She looked forward to having many formal occasions here. It was not however somewhere she wished to dine for every meal. Such a large room was intimidating for such few people.

Soon the silence was broken by the young blonde woman. "After breakfast, I figured we may start your lessons." Daphne led in.

Before Harry could reply, Loki reappeared with two other elves. Both of which were clearly dressed in some form of uniform intended for kitchen work. "Master your morning's meal." Said Loki as the two elves set down the utensils. Soon after like clockwork, two more elves arrived with their meal. Placing them down as the previous elves backed away and disappeared before doing so themselves. "Enjoy master. Call me should you need anything else." Loki Said before disappearing also.

Looking at their meal Harry was impressed. Somehow, Loki had known exactly what he had wanted. Sitting in front of him was the most beautiful meal of eggs benedict he had seen served with a beautiful garnish. Looking over he saw that Daphne was served with a beautifully made omelet. Each was served with and orange half, some toast, and some bacon. Picking up their silverware, the two began to eat. As they did, they drifted into conversation.

Mostly they talked about their childhoods. Daphne did anyways as Harry did his best to avoid that topic. Soon it drifted off to school as they learned more of each other going through the stories of their lives. Daphne told Harry about her parents. Her father mostly managed their estate and businesses. He also discreetly dealt in rare wizarding artifacts. Her mother was an estate manager. Providing her services to wealthy family's that rather their estates were not managed by goblins.

In return, Harry told her some of his Hogwarts adventures. Even though such stories were now tainted with former friends, he still enjoyed them with near death experiences and all. As she listened, Daphne was enthralled. Never would she have guessed such dangers lurked at Hogwarts. As she listened further, she was only more convinced of his power as a wizard.

One thing crept up again however as she listened. She noticed Harry was always trying to save something. He would put himself at risk to save somebody or something he knew otherwise nothing about. He sounded like a noble and kind soul. The Harry Potter he was telling stories of was different from the one he was now. He was darker and more primal though she could tell there was still a little kindness in his eyes. However, she had not yet seen it otherwise.

Deciding to ask him about it, she brought up the subject "Harry, you seemed so kind back then. Why is it that now you're so dark?"

Harry had just finished eating the last bit of his breakfast when she asked him the question. Setting his utensils down and grabbing his napkin, he took a moment to think on it. "That is a good question," he said after a moment "I've always felt a little darkness in me. It was always so small I never mentioned anything about it. I always thought it was just annoyance towards my relatives. With the loss of by godfather, betrayals, and the goblins removing by bindings, I guess it made itself more apparent."

Accepting the answer for now Daphne nodded as she finished her own meal. Calling for Loki, they congratulated the elf on a fine meal as he and some other elves cleaned up. Getting out of their chairs Daphne led Harry to the library, after stopping by their room to change, where she prepared to teach some of the customs of purebloods and history of the magical world.

**AN: Sorry if this chapter felt more like filler. I needed to move things were we could have the first lesson with Daphne. I hope to have the next chapter up about the same time next week. I'm not sure if I will write all of the Flamel journals into this story as it progresses. Probably only relevant snippets as I don't think there is enough for a standalone story right now. **


	9. Unwelcome visitor

**Harry Potter, The New Dark Lord**

**AN: **Be warned that there is a brief moment towards the bottom that may disturb some people. If you have been reading without regarding the 'M' rating, I advise you do so now. While the moment is brief, it is possible that the story will soon, become much darker, violent, and disturbing.

Also, some of you may have issues with my version of history. Deal with it. What I have written is only a brief account and will likely be expanded upon as Daphne educates Harry.

Thank you.

**Chapter 9: Unwelcome visitor**

Now that the pair was finished with their meal, Daphne decided it was time to start Harry's lessons. It would take some time to bring him completely up to the knowledge he should possesses. Thought it would certainly help with his unique abilities. Today would serve only as a starting point as they planed their eventual takeover of the wizarding world and possibly the muggle.

The Blonde woman led Harry to the main library of the manor. It was quite possibly her favorite room. The back wall was almost entirely made of glass providing a view to the back gardens. In the center of this was a fireplace. It was a large piece of large dark grey stone with a hollow center on the inside. Bordering the firebox was white marble. The combination of stones and the fire burning inside proved to be quite the contrast. Even more so with the dark, almost black, wood floor.

On either side of the room were two massive bookcases. Each looked as if it could hold thousands of books. This was not an impossible feet given the length and height of the room. The entrance was in the center opposite of the fireplace. Just inside on a pedestal was the master index.

The book showed information on all books in the library such as author, subject, printed year, and how advanced it was. On a small platform above and behind the book was a small goblet. It was bronze and filled with crimson flames. Writing on a piece of parchment and placing it in would perform a search. When something relevant was found special plaques in front of each book would glow. Each plaque would then display the relevant page numbers. It would last until another search, each plaque was reset manually, or until they were reset at the goblet.

In the center of the room was seating and some tables. The seating consisted of six seats. Two were love seats and the other four were armchairs. All were made from red leather. In between, the love seats sat a small coffee table. On the end of each side by the armchairs was a stand with a small lamp. Sitting herself down in one of the love seats, she motioned for Harry to take one on the other side.

As her husband sat down she started to talk, "I figured I would start your education with some brief history of wizarding England as well as an overview of the Wizengamot," she paused a moment. "From there we can branch out to other matters."

Harry nodded and responded after a moment with, "very well," and after a moment more added "and what can you teach me that a good book can't?" he smirked.

"Well, dear husband," Daphne replied cordially. "While a book may teach you the same things, they lack a personal perspective." Harry accepted her answer and she started.

_The origins of magical people have never been fully understood. Some believe that our origin was somewhere in the Middle East. Perhaps one day we will know, perhaps not. What is known is that while the muggle population has always been growing, the magical has not. Before Hogwarts, the population of magicals has always been very small. However, as the muggle population grew so did the population of magicals._

_Before long, where there was a muggle, there was a magical. Though, magic, as we know it did not exist at that time. Those with 'the gift' were often shamans or healers for their people. The magic of the time was very primitive. Eventually basic enchantments were created and from there magical weapons and wards. It did not take long after to construct staffs and then wands. _

_While a lot of this is conjecture, most can be assumed through evidence. Evidence left through the remains of small villages and the Roman Empire. While most magicals were never part of the legions, they served in other capacities. They served in positions such as engineers, priests, or as oracles in most cases. While magicals have never been a very religious race, those that served as temple priests found it very lucrative. They allegedly produced grand effects that wowed the patrons into giving their coin._

_The magicals outside of the empire, and some in, continued to advance magic as a whole. It was during this age that many spells we still use today were made. Today there is almost a spell that can't be traced to this time. _

_For a time things were good for the world. While magicals were already all over the world, the fall of Rome left them scattered. They either joined with local lords or became their own lords. Those that joined with muggle lords served as the wizards of the court. They acted as magical advisors, and because of their age often possessed more wisdom then their muggle lord counter parts. For their services, they were rewarded with the possessions of a conquered wizard. Sometimes even a mate arranged through a contract._

_Those that were able to obtain their own tracks of land formed their own houses. Those that are still around are some of the oldest, wealthiest, and respected houses in the wizarding world. The inhabitants of the lands then became serfs, or paid a small tax to the lord. Most of those living on the land were muggles and very few magicals. _

_The population of magicals was still very small. Very few were able to marry other magicals, and so they survived how they could with muggles. For the house lords, when a magical child was born they took it into their house. Sometimes they also took the muggle parent, assured they could produce magic children. When a squib was made, the child and muggle parent were abandoned. Whether they still had the privilege, of House protection was up to the lord._

_Many years later, four Lords of the Land came together. Each was gifted in their own areas of magic but all were powerful, and knowledgeable. They built a school, the first of its kind, for magicals to learn and grow from. For the first time large groups of magical people were able to meet in once place. After the first few years of its existence, there was an explosion in the population of magicals. After the discovery of family magics, the squibs were discovered to have magical children. Some viewed this has having their magic stolen and quickly disowned them fearing they lay claim to their houses._

Here Daphne took a break from the lesson and called for an elf. She quickly asked for a glass of water and the elf disappeared. Quickly reappearing the elf placed two glasses and a pitcher before vanishing once again. "So, any questions so far?" she ask picking up the glass.

Shifting forward in his seat Harry took a moment to think on it. The information that she had told him was a lot to take in. He wondered how accurate her information was. As well as why all of this was not common knowledge. "I have two," Harry said after a moment. "Frist, why is all of this not common knowledge. You'd think there would be a history lesson on this or a book at least."

Daphne chuckled and smiled softly, "First there is a book on it, books in fact." She paused. "It's not common knowledge because it's only in tomes of old families. Houses that can trace their lineage back to the founders' time or beyond. This is also why it's not common knowledge, not many of them exist anymore, and those that do aren't really students of history."

"And you are?" Harry quirked an eyebrow, "A student of history I mean."

"Yes," Daphne stated with conviction. "History happens to be one of my favorite subjects, so long as it's not that wretched ghost at school that's teaching."

"I see, well if you don't mind I'd like to do some fact checking of my own," Harry replied.

Daphne smiled a true and genuine smile. "Harry, I would expect it no other way. Blind acceptance is the first step to being manipulated."

Leaning back in the chair Harry played with his glass of water for a moment. Looking out of the grand window, he noticed the sun was beginning its decent. It was past lunchtime at least. Before they took a break from the lessons for something to eat, Harry thought in silence. He thought how slow wizards were compared to muggles.

During the history of the world, the muggle population exploded while wizard remained small. Harry didn't know by how much the muggles outnumbered them but in a conflict, muggles would win from sheer numbers alone. Not even factoring their most advanced and deadly weapons.

He was sure that any war to control the wizarding world would spill out into the muggle and they would be discovered. The _Statutes of Secrecy_ would no longer protect them. Once it was discovered that an entire culture was hiding in plain sight, for hundreds of years was at war, Harry was sure they would quickly be destroyed.

Calling an elf for lunch, Harry brought the topic to Daphne. "It's disturbing how close history seems to be repeating." His voice was pensive. "You telling me this history now only confirms to me… that the muggles must be dealt with."

"Dealt with how?" Daphne asked not liking where this line of conversation was going.

"They must either be…eliminated." Harry breathed with a heavy heart. "Or… they're numbers must be culled down to a manageable number."

"Are you advocating mass murder, Harry?" she asked him in a hard tone. While Daphne wanted to rule over muggles, she did not want them eliminated. She had in her mind that they would live in servitude like serfs of the past. She rather allow them to live in slavery, then mass genocide.

"War with them is inevitable," he said firmly. "Whether it's us or another faction it will happen. I'd rather put them on their knees before they even know of us. Cutting them down to a population similar to ours would be a good place to start."

Thought she supported magical superiority, such actions were abhorrent to her. Setting her plate down on the table, she lost her appetite for now. "Perhaps it's better if we revisit this topic and continue with the lessons?"

As Daphne started, again Harry continued to eat. He was seemingly unaware of Daphne's 'discomfort' of the subject beforehand. Harry was already laying plans in his head. Though he said he wanted to destroy them, he had another thought. If only, there was some way to eliminate only the muggles without potential magic. Wipe them out to only the dormant squibs to ensure viable magical future.

_Due to the explosion of the magical population from the construction of Hogwarts England quickly became the center of the magical world. After several years, the Wizengamot was formed from the need of an official government. It was founded by some of the oldest magical families in the world._

_Member houses carry various titles and statuses. There were seven of them and all but one, were assigned either by how long the family has served on the court, or how long it has existed. If a family did not serve and needed to appear before the court, their status was based on existence._

_All new members were simply granted the title of 'House'. Often times these members were muggleborn. Sometimes entering as a muggleborn was a problem so they could also be first generation purebloods._

_The next one up the chain was an 'Ascended House'. Members with this status have served the court for 100 years or more, easy for a magical to do._

_The fifth oldest was a 'High House'. Serving for 250 years or existed for 300. This was quickly followed by 'Esteemed Senior House' though most just referred to the title as 'An Ancient House'. These houses have existed for half a millennia or greater, 500 years or more, or served for 425 or more years._

_The third oldest is 'The Ancient and most Noble' Houses who have existed for 700 years or greater. They could have also served for 625 years. This was followed by the second oldest and the last to be gained through age or service. 'Ancient and Most Honorable' Houses have existed for 900 years or more or served for 850 years._

_The last title was the oldest and most respected of all. The "Ancient and most Venerable' Houses that have existed and served for 1000 years. These families are perhaps some of the oldest in England and the world. They can trace their magic back a millenia and have an unbroken line. They can also proudly say they've had a blood member serving on the court for as long, also unbroken._

_Due to the requirements of such a position being so high, the members are very few. Most that could claim the title have died out or, for those that have laid clam, near dying out. Those with the title are the Venerable Houses of Bones, Davis, McGonagall, and Leoben. The Ancient and most Honorable House of Potter would have a seat among their ranks, however, because James Potter went into hiding, he never served the court and the line was broken. Though the House of Potter need not start over again to get the title, only the missing time needed to be served._

_The Wizengamot is split into two functions. The first is the Legislative branch. This is the original embodiment of the court. Its purpose is to pass laws and regulations. Any member of the court can vote and introduce laws or attempt to repeal laws. For a law to pass it must have three supporting houses for the bill, and then pass with a 70 percent majority. Repealing a law was similar but required 5 supporting houses and 85 percent majority._

_The other capacity that the Wizengamot served was Judicial. It was responsible for hearing testimony and evidence before judgment and sentencing. Unlike voting laws in, only the department heads and minister can vote or any house, that has served the court for 200 years or existed 350 years or more._

"Is that all?" Harry asked when she was done. "No lessons on procedure or anything?"

Daphne smiled and shook her head slightly, "Yes," she answered. "Eventually but not tonight, you'll have to settle for the abridged version at the moment."

"Very well," Harry chuckled softly. "I guess I could also pick up a book."

"Indeed," Daphne drawled, "we'll go into more depth later along with some traditions based on this information."

"Such as?" said Harry.

"The most immediate issues that concern you," she replied, "why brothel contracts were and still used the issue with being heir to so many houses, and maybe some more details on the Wizengamot."

Harry quickly agreed and looked outside again. It had quickly turned to nightfall. Thankfully, the elves had anticipated their needs and provided them with another light meal. Talking it over with Daphne the two agreed to pick up tomorrow and go to bed. Daphne said she would join him shortly in bed after she completed one more thing. Nodding, he went to the master bedroom while she went to the study.

Upon entering she noted that Harry left the contents of the box out, she put them back before sealing the box again. Clearing a small space, she made room to write a letter. Grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill, she started.

_Dear Father,_

_I have accomplished my goals. I apologize for not contacting you sooner. My target was much easier to convince than I had thought. He has also changed from what I expected, and no, I will not tell you who I intended to pursue in a letter. Just know that I'm sure you will be pleased as I bring honor to both houses involved._

_You should be aware that he is clueless of our world. Thought he comes from a long and well-respected line he still knows nothing. I've started training him in our ways but fear there is much to learn. He would benefit greatly from your experience if you should allow it. I will be informing him of social etiquette soon and would like to arrange a visit. Please owl back what times is available to you._

_Your loving daughter,_

_Daphne_

Finishing her letter, she placed it in an envelope. She then sealed it with wax using no house crest, as not to give away information. Calling for Mindy, she realized the only owl in the house was Hedwig. Sighing, Daphne asked the elf where the snowy owl was. Having her answer the young woman left the study to find the owl in question, who had just returned from a previous delivery.

Heading up the stairs Daphne headed for the top of the house. Reaching the top flight, she entered a small room and made her way to the owlery. The manor owlery was modest in size but had room for many owls. Currently the only resident was the brilliant white snowy owl, Hedwig. When she saw Daphne enter, she hooted angrily and gave the girl the evil eye.

"Aw, Hedwig, don't be like that," Daphne chided.

"_Whhooo_," hooted Hedwig turning her head away trying to ignore the girl.

"Tell you what girl," Daphne started, "if you deliver this letter for me, I'll leave the window open to our bedroom. You can wake up Harry in the morning and voice your displeasure with him."

This caught the owl's attention as she turned around and started at the blonde girl. In this moment, Daphne became slightly afraid of the snowy owl. If Hedwig could, she would be laughing evilly right now. Sticking her leg out Daphne attached the letter and she flew off through an opening near the top of the room.

Shaking her head Daphne made her way back down the stairs. She stopped on the master bedroom floor when it happened. She was half way down the hall when there was a sudden loud alarm. Looking down the hall, she saw Harry fly out of their bedroom in basic dress and run towards her.

"Do you have your wand?" he asked.

"I…" she stuttered out.

"Do. You. Have. Your. Wand." He asked again, this time forcefully. Daphne took a moment to look him in the eyes and saw something that wasn't there before. There was fierce determination and deadly focus behind his emerald eyes.

"I do," she answered quietly. At first she wasn't sure he heard her with the alarm going off. "What's going on?" she said a little louder.

"Good stay here, watch the house," he said seemingly ignoring her. "The intruder alarms are going off. I'm going to check it out. Back soon." As he finished he turned to leave. Before he got far Daphne grabbed his hand and pulled him in for a fierce kiss.

It was only for a moment but felt like forever. "Be careful," she breathed.

Nodding, Harry stormed off as if the devil was at his heals. Making his way to the front door he exited he manor in time to see the incoming intruder. Looking up at the sky, he saw what appeared to be a comet. It was actually two people. One was holding on a flaming blue object streaking across the sky while the other was holding on. After a few seconds, it landed with a loud crash.

As it landed, it dug into the earth. The one passenger holding onto the other was able to get away safely. The other was not so lucky. Harry didn't have time to see who landed roughly, as he realized the other was a death eater.

"Potter!" shouted a surprised male voice. "Avada Kedavra!"

Harry dodged right, away from the curse as it flew past hitting the door. He quickly countered with a reductor. Aiming for the ground in front of the assailant, he was able to blow up a small dust screen. Harry followed up with cutting curse from his second wand. Hearing a yell of pain, he knew he at least hit his target. Moving slowly closer to investigate he had to dodge away again. A vertical white ribbon of energy cut through the air at high speed and he barley dodged away before it ruined part of his shirt.

"The Dark Lord will be pleased that I have found you!" shouted the male death eater. Pulling away his left sleeve, he exposed the dark mark. He moved his wand to it in an effort to summon his master. He never got the chance.

"Calor frustum!"Harry shouted flicking his cypress wand. A red ribbon of his own shot out at high speed slicing off the man's arm just above the mark. The spell was such that it would cut and then cauterize. There would be no blood loss but the appendage would not reattach. The cut nerves destroyed forever.

The death eater screamed in pain as his lower arm was cut off. Growling the man waved his wand and transfigured the grass in front of Harry. Realizing what spell was used Harry jumped back and cast a redirection shield. He was a little too late however as the grass was transformed to razor sharp spines and shot up towards him. Harry was able to dodge most but one embedded itself in his left shoulder and another grazed his right leg.

Growling back, Harry banished the man away. The black robed figure with skull mask flew back and dug his feet into the ground. "Avada Kedavra!" the man shouted again.

Harry countered with, "maxima glacies!" he shouted twisting both wands. He did so with such timing that a large spike of ice, larger than normal, flew out and met the killing curse head on. When the two curses met, there was a large explosion. Ice shards flew everywhere and a heavy mist formed briefly. Seeing his change Harry sprinted right as he decided he was fed up with this fight. "Genuit Ruptis!" he yelled flicking his cypress wand again.

He watched as his spell screamed from his wand through the mist clearing a visual of the enemy. The death eater saw the flash and aimed back but was too late. Harry smirked as he saw his spell hit the target right below the heart. There was a brief flash of blood red from inside the death eater. The flash illuminated the entire skeleton before fading. When it did, the enemy's entire blood and guts exploded from his mouth and eyes. The burst was so violent it blasted the corpse into the ground as the ejected bits flew everywhere.

Walking up to the body, Harry removed the mask. Sighing he placed the mask back as he gazed upon the face of one Marcus Flint. Flint was a former student of Hogwarts, played chaser for Slytherin, and most said he looked like he had troll blood. He was not a nice person and Harry felt nothing for his death.

Standing up he removed the spike lodged in his shoulder before casing a healing spell. It wasn't much but did stop the bleeding for the moment. Pointing his wand to the body Harry cast a fire spell. The flames shooting from his wand were so intense the body was soon reduced to ash in the wind.

Sighing the young lord moved to investigate the other person who arrived. When he arrived at the crater, he became panicked. Crouching down he took a pulse and was relieved that she was still alive. The young girl was banged up heavily, probably from the impact. In her hand was a damaged portkey, one meant for her, meant for Ginny Weasley.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Hm, things seem to be brewing. You'll have to wait until the chapter after next to see what Harry does with Ginny. The next chapter will likely shift to other people again. Be warned now, it will likely not be nice. I fully intend to make the death eaters as evil and sadistic as I can write them within the site rules. If you are offended by even hinting at things offensive in nature I recommend you pull back now. The story may start to move a little faster soon as well.


	10. Through one mirror, many eyes

**Harry Potter, The New Dark Lord**

AN: Sorry for the wait for this chapter. I've been very busy and unable to focus on writing and editing…again. This may not be the best it could be but I'm done sitting on it trying to get it right, it's time to post. deal with it.

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><p><strong>Chapter 10: Through one mirror, many eyes<strong>

Draco and his mother Narcissa had left Malfoy manor a few days after the will was read. Telling the Dark Lord, who had been using it as his base at the time that they needed a vacation. To the Dark Lord she explained this as the need to appear as 'distraught' over Lucius's crimes and following arrest. He accepted this and gave them permission to leave their own manor. He told Draco that soon he would receive the dark mark and join his crusade like his father and assigned to avenge him.

Draco accepted this on the outside. However, on the inside he was slightly terrified. Lucius Malfoy may have been his father but he was not his father's son, even if he held some of the same beliefs. He believed that those of pure magical ancestry were superior. That by murdering other magicals they would only harm their superiority. Their wealth and noble history would keep them above the common folk.

He was currently sitting on a couch before a fire at their summer home. He was busy thinking and did not hear his mother come into the study. While she was only 41 years old, young for a witch, recent stress has aged her considerably. Her once smooth and beautiful face was now worn and wrinkled. Her blonde hair was once bright and luxurious but was now dull as she neglected it while fretting about their situation.

Walking into the room, she sat down in an armchair next to where her son was. Looking at him, she realized that he too was under stress. His eyes, once bright and lively, were now dull and washed. His usually well-groomed hair was haphazardly brushed and he looked like he was not eating as much as he should. Narcissa knew that the Dark Lords sudden interest in her son was not a reward but a punishment. Never before had he taken interest in one so young to join his crusade. While Draco was very talented in magic, others were more so and fanatical to the cause.

"I think I may take up the offer left by Black," said a quiet Draco only now realizing his mother was there.

"Are you sure Draco," said his mother. "If you do there is no going back and there is no telling what would happen."

Draco nodded still focusing on the fire. "I think I will bring up my concerns with Potter when I approach him. I'm sure he will have some things to ask from me as well"

"You are aware my son," Narcissa said with the voice of a proper woman, "That Potter may ask for some assurances. If he doesn't I'm sure my cousin has left some in the will."

"Yes," Draco whispered. "I'm sure his terms will be more agreeable then servitude and forced to murder and torture."

Narcissa merely started at her son. A year ago, their lives had been so certain. She would be atop the pinnacle of society. Her son would be attending school and preparing to take over the Malfoy family when he came of age.

She softly sighed as she wondered if they were doing the right thing. One part of her said yes while another knew that even if they were wrong, they would not survive long enough to know for sure. Not while the dark lord and her husband yet live.

TNDL

Elsewhere the very Dark Lord Draco and Narcissa were trying to flee from sat at Malfoy manor. He had just returned from breaking his recently capture followers out, again. He was greatly displeased and made it a point to punish them. However, he was somewhat lenient for now given his current plans. Should they fail again he would make it a point to punish them severely.

The only one he let go was Bella. He had a bit of a spot for her. Out of all his followers, Bella was perhaps his favorite. As she was raised a Black, she was taught the darks arts since she could read. Bellatrix was one of his top fighters and had a mind nearly as sadistic as his own. If she was not a zealot to the cause or insane there could very well be a Dark Lord and Lady running around.

Voldemort was disturbed from his thoughts when the door to his chamber opened. Looking across the long dinner table, he saw Lucius making his way to his master. Lucius was not one of those he had broken out from Azkaban a second time. The head of the Malfoy family was being held at the Ministry in preparation for a trial. Until Lucius was sent to Azkaban or released, he dared not attempt to free him from the holding cells.

Lucius made his way to his master and kneeled before him. "Master," he spoke with reverence.

"Lucius," said the Dark Lord looking down his nose at him. "Tell me, how have you come before me?"

Lucius remained kneeling as he answered, "Milord, Malfoy gold is still valuable even while in chains. I was able to get evidence removed from behind bars and they were forced to let me free, unable to prosecute."

"Very well Lucius," said Voldemort. "You may rise."

"Thank you milord," Lucius said in respect. As he was getting up from his position on the floor, he fell back down screaming in agony. The dark lord had cast the cruciatus on him but held it only for a few moments but between the fall and the power of the dark lord, the pain was intense.

"That," Voldemort hissed, "is for your failure Lucius. Be gracious that I have plans otherwise I would not be so forgiving."

"Yes… milord," Lucius said panting heavily.

"Now be gone from my sight," hissed the Dark Lord, "Prepare yourself Lucius for I will call on you soon."

Lucius picked himself up and bowed before leaving the room. He knew when the Dark Lord dismissed you that you left as fast as possible regardless of how you were punished. It was actually quite brilliant. By punishing his sometimes to the brink of death, they would improve. Their battle performance under heavy injury would drastically improve. For the basic foot soldiers they employed they would also often learn advanced dark curses they may not have known otherwise. Sometimes pain could be the best of motivators and Voldemort exploited that.

As Lucius left, Voldemort went back to planning a few attacks on friends of Potter. Though it had been a few weeks since the incident at the ministry, he had just recovered. Somehow, the Potter child was able to harm him and he was unable to figure out how. As retribution, Voldemort planed an attack on the Bones, Longbottoms, Grangers, and Weasleys.

The attack on the Weasleys would merely be a distraction. Since the family seemed to rut so much there was many of them. Their numbers would make a fight difficult and long. It would prove to be a good opportunity for his younger Death Eaters to prove themselves in combat. Even if they failed to kill anybody, they were sure to pick up some experience that would be useful later.

The Grangers were one of his primary targets. The loss of Potters mudblood was payment enough for the moment for what Potter had done to him. For that raid, he planned on sending Bellatrix, Dolohov, and Snape. Voldemort would order those attacking to leave none alive and destroy the neighborhood after they had finished with the mudblood.

To the Longbottoms he was sending the Lestrange brothers and Greyback. Since the brothers were there before, torturing the boy's parents, he was sure their attack would be devastating, as they knew how to get around the wards. He would attack the Bones himself along with McNair and Lucius.

His main goal at the Bones was to eliminate Amelia Bones, head of Magical Law Enforcement, or DMLE. His secondary goal was to destroy the House of Bones. He would then deploy Lucius to ensure one of his own got put into the head position of the DMLE. Having control of the department would prove extremely useful for his plans. His follower would be able to set auror patrols, delay their deployment, destroy evidence, or any possible number of things to bring the aurors down.

Coming out of his thoughts once again, Voldemort prepared for this evening. With a flick of his wand, he conjured three lengths of rope. The Dark Lord had made his own spell for just this situation. It would make the rope and simultaneously turn them into portkeys. The great part was that he only needed to wave his wand once. His mental powers were so great he could do all he needed to with one flic of the wand. While not a great accomplishment, it did speed up the deployment speed of his forces.

The display of magic, if before his followers bestowed great awe in them. As they had not gone into the depths of magic as he had, they were easily amazed. Such feet's of magic only reinforced the belief of his extreme power and brought others under his will.

_-HPTNDL-_

Elsewhere there was a goblin named Bloodstool. He was assigned by Lord Ragnok to make several purchases for the man-of-too-many-family names, Lord Harry Potter. He was successful on all counts. The butterbeer company was now his as was the Daily Prophet. There was one thing that confused him however, and that was the Lords interest in the muggle companies.

Lord Potter and instructed them to purchase several muggle pharmaceutical companies. While this was not a problem, the chosen companies were. They only earned a modest profit. Bloodstool wondered what the young lord's plan was, as he doubted their income would be worth the investment. Perhaps the young lord had some plan in mind as all three distributed globally. They made everything from antibiotics and antivirals to simple cold medicine.

The goblin wondered briefly, what the young Lord was playing at but not for long though as it was not his place to question the intent of a client. Placing the purchase information in an envelope the goblin gave it to another goblin. This goblin then took it where it needed to go to be filed to keep the clients information together. From there a letter would be drafted informing the lord of the purchase and that his presence was required.

_-HPTNDL-_

Nathanial Greengrass or Nathan as most called him had just sat down at his desk. Earlier this morning he had received a letter from his eldest daughter. He had been wondering when she would write to him as she had been out of the manor for quite some time. He was well aware of the leeway he had giver in in regards to choosing her own husband. However, he did not expect her plunge into her efforts so soon or so hard.

As He broke the seal, he noticed it was missing the house crest. A little curious now he pulled out the letter from inside and read. As he did so, he wondered if and whom his daughter has married. He wondered if the missing crest was a sign of her shame or perhaps another game of hers.

From a very young age, Daphne was always able make a decision and stick with it for better or worse. When she was young, she discovered what she wanted. She wanted power, money, and prestige. Nathan didn't know where she obtained these desires exactly, though he did suspect it was from the books she read in their library. As a young girl, she was captivated by the stories of old kings and nobility and their place in history. She was enamored with the tales of young lords, Kings and Queens as they ruled over their lands.

Setting the letter aside, he thought for a moment before calling for an elf, "Rudy!" Nathans deep voice rang out.

"Master call Rudy?" asked the elf in question as it popped into existence.

"Yes," Nathan started, "find Astoria and inform her I wish to speak with her."

"Right away master," the elf replied with a bow. "Is there anything else you shall need?"

"Perhaps a pain relief potion?" Nathan asked.

"Of course master," said Rudy before vanishing. The elf appeared again moments later with a small vial filled with a deep red potion and placed it on the desk. Nathan picked it up and moved it further away as he knew how excitable his youngest daughter was. In the brief moment he did this, the elf vanished again with a small pop.

While he waited, he thought of his youngest daughter. Where his eldest was on the taller side with long blonde hair, Astoria was a short 5'5" with shoulder length black hair. Her hair fell down in soft interlocking curves from her oval face. Like her sister, she had pale skin and was stunningly beautiful. Some questioned whether they were really sisters because of the different hair colors. Nathan knew they were as they took after opposite parents. Part of the reason that Astoria had dark hair was a family gift on her mother's side manifested with her.

Sometimes called 'cursed touch' Astoria could touch cursed objects and never be affected by them. During the dark times, when witches and wizards did not hide from muggles, this was often viewed by muggles as a sign of a dark witch. Thinking on this brought out things of how the two sisters were different.

Astoria was more fire to Daphne's ice. While Daphne tended to keep up a stony mask, Astoria was a bright and engaging young witch. She was not shy to help other students or be around boys, even though she was betrothed. However, she was not afraid to hex their bits off should they try to take things too far. Nathan couldn't help but comparing his daughters to snakes. Daphne was a cobra while Astoria was disguised. To the untrained eye she was a scarlet snake, but piss her off and you'd soon find out she was not a scarlet snake but a coral snake.

While he was waiting for Astoria, he quickly read the short letter. Soon a soft knocking at the door interrupted him as he read the letter a second time. "Enter," he called out. What followed was the soft sound of the door handle turning the bolt and opening the door. The door swung open into the room and Astoria entered her father's study. She was wearing deep purple robes that were light and made from the finest materials, suitable to wear during the summer. This outer layer was buttoned up to just below her chest revealing an almost teal-cyan blue under robe.

"Hello father!" Astoria greeted him happily. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm fine thank you dear," he responded smiling. "Could you please take a seat," Nathan gestured to an empty chair across from him.

Astoria nodded and took the seat. This was something she was sued to, as before the sisters started going to Hogwarts he would occasionally call them into this very study. Usually he called them to this room to defuse tensions between the sisters. Sometimes he would call them for private lessons or act as sort of a counselor for when they were troubled. Sitting in the char the young girl folder her hands in her lap waiting for what her father was about to say.

"I received a letter from your sister this morning," said Nathan after a moment of silence.

Astoria squealed a moment before unleashing a torrent of questions. "How is she, where is she, is she ok, why hasn't she written, when will she be home?"

"Slow down, your sister is fine. She had merely written to me to inform that she had found a husband."

Astoria squealed again with another barrage of questions. This went on for a few moments as she talked herself into a circle, repeating her questions. "Astoria, calm yourself," Lord Greengrass gently commanded. With this Astoria quickly adopted a stony mask.

"Now," Nathan sighed in relief, "I don't know the answer to any of your questions. I do not know what family the boy is from or anything else. I was hoping you might have an insight from observations during school. Your sister had left her letter devoid of any real information."

The dark haired girl was silent for a moment. While at school, she had observed her sister as well as the other students. This was something her father encouraged them to do as a way to be mindful of people. The little 'ticks' people would unconsciously display could tell you a lot about their character. As she thought back to her observations she prepared to answer her father.

"I can't think of anything specific father," she said blankly, "Though she always seemed to attend the Slytherin quidditch matches."

"Really," her father rose an eyebrow, "that is quite odd," he then thought and said. Daphne never was one to be fanatical about anything, especially quidditch. Thinking back onto what his daughter just said he concluded that whoever it was might be on the Slytherin quidditch team. It was that, or Daphne was clever enough only to attend Slytherin games to throw off the trail. Something his daughter may very possibly do making this information useless.

"Thanks for this information," he said after a moment. "Now, for the second reason I've called you here. Please write to your betrothed and inform him that there will be a gathering here this weekend. Your sister will also be attending with her husband. You may leave now." He finished dismissing her.

Astoria stood up from her chair before moving to exit. Before she did however, she paused to give her father a large hug. Nathan could swear he felt his bones being crushed under the power of her hug. When she left, he grabbed the potion and quickly took a swig. A few moments later he could feel it taking effect and was glad he asked for it. While Nathanial was not a weak man by any means, his daughter certainly could hug. Perhaps his thoughts on Astoria being a coral snake were wrong; maybe she was more like a constrictor.

_-HPTNDL-_

Albus Dumbledore was a man of many talents. That talent came from his great knowledge and power. His current problem however was something not solvable with any of his talent, knowledge, or power. He had been on a small trip after the will reading looking into a lead to destroy Tom. When he had returned Hogwarts, he felt a change. At first, it was so subtle he didn't think anything of it. Then, he went to monitor the castle grounds through the wards. There was a disturbance and he wondered if it was an attack. He quickly discovered that he did not have the same control over the wards as he did before.

What was even stranger was that while he could monitor the grounds still, he could not change the wards. Some of the wards he had turned off before because of their dark nature were disabled. One such instance was the rape wards. This ward was designed to monitor the castle and grounds for any unwilling sexual activity and punish the perpetrators. Very little is directly known of the founders except that their punishments were quite harsh. The castle did have a torture chamber after all; something that Mr. Flitch had great desire to use on disobedient students.

The rape wards were but one of many protections in place for the student's safety. When a female, or the occasional male, was about to be forced into sex, unwillingly, the wards would kick in. The perpetrator would then feel excruciating pain before having their bits destroyed by the wards. This could be reversed a committee consisting of the heads of house, headmaster, or the school board/owner. This was in place for those occasional students who desired such encounters as the wards were not sensitive enough to detect those who were unwilling, and those who wanted to fulfill a 'fantasy'.

Dumbledore had originally disabled them because he felt that none of the staff should concern themselves with the sex lives of the students. As time moved on he decided that it was for the best that they remain disabled. After all, there was nothing a few potions and memory charms wouldn't solve. He was however forced to ignore this problem for the time being as his spy entered the room.

Snape entered the office of the headmaster after knocking. He glided in like a ghostly bat and walked up the headmaster's desk. "Headmaster," came the silky smooth voice of Severus Snape. Even coming off so even his voice was laced with contempt, even to the headmaster. "The Dark Lord is planning several attacks. He has not said when these attacks will be or if they will occur simultaneously."

Broken from his thoughts Dumbledore looked up to his spy. "Do you know who he's targeting Severus?" asked the headmaster already suspecting the answer.

"He plans on the Weasleys, Longbottoms, Bones, and Grangers." The spy answered.

That was quite a few targets to defend, too many for the order. Dumbledore was sure Tom would attack all the targets on the same night. This would force them to pick and choose whom to defend and he doubted the aurors would be much help. Until Fudge was kicked out of office, he had assigned the bulk of the aurors to defend the ministry. The impotent minister refused to listen to reason and believed the ministry was at the greatest risk.

"Do you know who he plans on using to attack each residence?" asked Dumbledore after a moment.

"He plans on sending the bulk of his rookie forces to attack the Weasleys as a, training exercise," The potions master replied slickly. "To the Grangers he plans on sending Bellatrix, Dolohov, and myself. To the Longbottoms he plans on Greyback and the other two Lestranges. He plans on attacking the Bones himself along with McNair and Lucius."

Dumbledore started at his spy in shock. Most of the names he had listed were death eaters that were captured during the incident and the ministry. Answering the headmaster's unasked question, Snape said that the Dark Lord had broken out his followers again this morning. As for Lucius, he was able to pay his way to freedom again.

"This is a difficult situation," the old wizard sighed. Getting up from his seat, he moved to a window to the left of Snape. "I will alert the order of the situation Severus. We will prepare some to defend the Weasley's."

"If I may ask, headmaster, what are your plans regarding the other targets?"

"Nothing, Severus, Nothing," said the Headmaster without a hit of sadness or remorse, fully aware he was probably condemning them to death. "We can't do anything for the others else we reveal you as our spy. Losing the Grangers will only benefit us. The loss of one muggleborn will do nothing in the long run, but it should bring Harry back to us. Kill them Severus, kill the parents, and kill Miss Granger. However, make sure they die quickly. I dare not give Bellatrix the pleasure of their deaths."

The pair of wizards was disturbed when a hiss of pain came from Snape. The potions master quickly rolled the sleeve of his robe and taped his wand to the dark mark acknowledging his summons. The dark mark was a magical tattoo on the followers of the dark lord. It was always opposite of their wand arm. The mark was about seven inches long and was pure black. While it was always visible, it was never a problem as magicals almost all wore long sleeved robes.

"He summons me," the potions master grunted. "Probably to prepare for an attack."

"Very well Severus, go to him, come with news when you can," commanded Dumbledore. "I will alert some of the order to the attack on the Weasleys. The rest will be in reserve should he also attack other targets we're not aware of."

Snape acknowledge this course of action before using the Headmasters fireplace to floo out. It was best to leave as quickly as possible. It would not be good to keep the dark lord waiting.

_-HPTNDL-_

Bones manor was an intimidating structure. It was shaped like a long flat pyramid and was built into the ground several feet. The path that led to the front doors dipped down to the manor with a grand stone staircase. The entire outside of the manor was bone white and shone like a beacon in the field it was built. Though it was in the open, it didn't have many protective wards, as one would expect. However, the ones it did have were quite powerful.

The Bones family was very, very old. The early members of the family, before they even had the name 'Bones', were a class of magical warriors. Not very gifted magically they relied more on enchanted weapons for their battles. When they would slay their enemies in battle, they would claim the bones of the fallen. They were then used in a ritual, that today was considered dark, to animate and empower the skeleton to act as soldiers for the family. They would never die, never tire, and never give up. The skeleton warriors of the Bones family were eternal. The enemies of those they aligned with learned to fear and respect their power.

While the skeleton warriors were at one point a force to be feared, they were no longer maintained. The stigma of all things dark and all things suspected of being dark caused the House of Bones to abandon them to history. This perhaps was not a good idea as one this night; they would be needed more than ever.

Appertaining silently outside of the gates McNair, Lucius, and Voldemort quickly gained access to the grounds. Alerted to the breach through her house ring Amelia Bones looked out of the window to the grounds. She was soon filled with terror and dread as she saw the Dark Lord and two followers who were working on breaking the wards.

Running from the window, she screamed "SUSAN! Susan where are you!"

"In my room auntie," Susan calmly replied as Amelia rushed up to the second floor. Running to her niece, she grabbed her in a tight hold and pulled her back down the stairs. "Auntie, you're hurting me!" cried Susan.

"Susan, we get to the safe room," said Amelia in a hard voice. "The Dark Lord is attacking."

This news made Susan trip slightly in her step as she paled. As the two reached the ground floor, the front door blew open in a hail of splinters. "Susan, run!" Amelia yelled throwing up her strongest shield. The shield deflected the splinters and a hail of curses that flew after.

Hearing her aunts command Susan made a run for the safe room. Looking behind her she saw the forms of Lucius Malfoy, McNair, and you-know-who. She tripped briefly knocking over a small table along the wall. She stumbled back up and sprinted down the hall. Pausing briefly, she saw her aunt had retreated with her throwing up shields to protect them. The shield did not protect Amelia from everything as a few cutting curses got through to her.

Susan had never felt more afraid as she saw her aunt turn back to her, running down the hall. There were a few small cuts and burns on her as well as a few major ones. The most noticeable was about a foot long gash running from her left shoulder to just above her right breast. The elder Bones arm was also broken, biased on how her she was carried her left arm.

The two Bones women turned a few corners until they entered one of the manor sitting rooms. Running up to the fireplace Amelia pressed her house ring to a crest on the mantle. As soon as she did, the fireplace opened up into quarters. Unfortunately, for the Bones women, they were too slow.

Amelia had just handed Susan the house ring when the safe room finished opening and the three attackers entered. Unfortunately, the sitting room had a door across from the fireplace and to each side. This allowed the attackers to split up and strike from three separate angles. Before Amelia could react, she was hit in the back by three separate curses.

Crying out in agony, Amelia started to close the safe room. "Never run away Susan, and remember, I love you," Amelia said in what would be her last words before turning to face her attackers.

"Auntie, no!" Susan screamed as she watched the horror. Her aunt turned to face the dark lord and his followers. Her aunts' back was ripped apart from the curses yet she fought on. Susan watched in slow motion as the door shut, sealing her in, separating her from her aunt.

Susan scrambled to the door sobbing. Pounding on the door, she wished for anything but this. "Auntie, No!" she screamed again in agony. From the other side of the wall she could hear the sounds of fighting. The sounds did not last long however before the screams of her aunt replaced them. Susan stayed in the safe room as her aunts screams seemed to go on forever.

The sounds of screams eventually stopped only to be replaced by the sounds of someone trying, futilely, to break into the safe room. Susan had never felt more helpless as she sat there along, in the dark. Keeping her aunts last words in mind, she never ran away, nor would she ever.

_-HPTNDL-_

"Ginny, dinner time!" came the shrill voice of Molly Weasley.

Ginny rolled her eyes and ignored her mother for a moment. She had just read the letter from Harry again. She was not happy with the phrase to use the portkey he had apparently sent. However, she was pleased he had responded to her at least. Stuffing the portkey in her pocket, she made her way down to the kitchen. Taking her place at the table, she ate her meal in silence.

As she ate, her mother was ranting and raving. Apparently the story she gave her father was that Harry had blocked any bequeaths they would have received. This upset Arthur but he maintained that they boy must have had his reasons as he was grieving. It was the only stuff to remember his godfather by after all. Ron was also silent; Molly had cast a silencing charm on him to prevent him from running his mouth again.

Finishing her meal Ginny prepared to leave the house before being intercepted by her mother. "Where do you think you're going young lady," she asked.

"Out," Ginny replied brusquely.

"Out, out _where_?" Molly questioned suspiciously.

"Just out," Ginny growled. "Not like you care anyway, being a family of noting but liars and thieves."

"Ginevra Molly Weasley!" yelled an irate Molly. "I'm your mother and you talk to me with the respect I deserve!"

"No," Ginny turned around staring down her mother. She could see the red tint of furry coloring her face. "I heard you and Ronald when you got back from the reading. You may have dad fooled but not me. I heard the truth from your own mouth." Tuning around again, Ginny marched through the grass to where she could use the portkey to take her away.

Now furious, Molly stomped towards her daughter. Her weight and anger combined to make large impressions in the ground. She pointed her wand at her daughter, "stop right now Ginevra, you will be going nowhere until I can force some respect into you!"

Molly was about to curse her only daughter when there was several dozen loud pops around them. The two loudest pops came from next to Ginny and from behind Molly. Turning around Molly saw the masked form of a death eater. She watched in fright as the masked figure sent out a curse. The figure apparently had bad aim as it missed Molly and went right towards Ginny. The curse hit Ginny in the hand, the same one holding the portkey as Ginny activated it. Just before Ginny did so, she was grabbed by the death eater next to her. The curse that hit the portkey caused it to malfunction.

Instead of arriving where she was supposed to the portkey stopped in midair causing the pair to plummet to the ground…

_-HPTNDL-_

Hermione Granger was perhaps the brightest witch of her age. She loved knowledge, and there was, now at least, nothing that she did not want to know. After the will reading a little over a week now, she had dived into the dark arts. Knowledge of the dark arts was something she swore never to touch because she knew how dangerous it would be for her. Unless she limited herself, she would drive herself to know and know more.

That facet about her made the allure of the dark arts so dangerous. The dark arts were more than just dark rituals or curses. The dark arts were once referred to as combat, battle, or war magic. They were ever changing and persistent and extremely varied. Like muggles, wizards too, had many tools at their disposal to kill, from a transfiguration spell that could vanish your skin to another that would change it to a substance muggles knew as white phosphorus.

While Hermione wanted to learn about the dark arts, that didn't mean she wanted to use them. That was at least before she and her parents were at the mercy of three death eaters. The young muggleborn witch was sobbing, as her parents were tortured while she was forced to watch, and wait.

"Aww… so the wittle muggles are dentists!" came the mocking baby voice of Bellatrix Lestrange. "Tell me wittle ones, what does a dentist do?" Bella asked Hermione's mother squeezing her mother's cheeks with wand between her fingers. This caused Leslie Granger to make a 'kissy face' under Bella's touch.

Leslie Granger was a relatively short woman. She had long brown hair like her daughters but it was tamer. She had an oval face and piercing blue eyes above nice full lips. Tonight she was wearing her favorite shirt, a simple white blouse. The material was thin enough that if you really looked you could see the bra underneath that held back her decent bust.

Bound next to her mother, was her father, Robert. He was taller than her mother by about a foot maybe a little more. He was not well built but not pudgy or fat either. He had short dark brown hair and brown eyes like Hermione. He was wearing a blue button up shirt and black pants; while not formal, they were quite nice even with the bloodstains.

"We clean and fix peoples teeth." Leslie Granger answered the insane witch.

"Cween an fwix weeoples weeth!" Bella exclaimed. "Tell me _muggle_, can you fix this?" she then asked placing her wand in Leslie's mouth. Silently using a spell the dark witch ripped out two of her teeth. "Let's see you fix your teeth now muggle. You apparently can can't you?"

Hermione's mother tried to speak but between the pain and blood and was unable to. Her efforts merely caused blood to spray across Bellatrix.

Wiping down her face Bella backhanded the muggle he was torturing. "_Crucio_," Bellatrix incanted. Leslie fell back against her bindings screaming. Under her cries of pure agony under the curse, Hermione and Robert struggled to help her. However, Robert held back a little. He had always made it a point to carry a Swiss army knife and was not using it to cut through the rope bindings behind his back.

Robert was thankful he did. The magicals, feeling that they were superior, had tied up their captives with a simple rope-binding spell. This allowed him to reach the Swiss in his back pocket and work on cutting the bindings.

Hermione was sobbing even harder under the screams of her mother. She was broken briefly away when her father discreetly passed her his Swiss. They were so close together that passing it was not a problem and Hermione was glad that they were only bound with magically conjured rope and not petrified.

Handing back the knife to her father, Robert made his moved. He lunged from his position towards Bellatrix. He was able to stab her, although not fatally, in the shoulder. Another death eater seeing his chance cast the killing curse. In a brief flash of green, Robert Granger was dead. Screaming, Hermione made a grab for her wand on the table.

Seeing her play, the third death eater cast a purple spell at her. One she recognized by description as the one that cursed her at the ministry. Grabbing her wand and rolling out of the way she returned with a wide area banisher. This caused the mask of one Severus Snape to dislodge itself showing part of his face.

Barely registering the face of her professor, Hermione dragged her mother to her feet. With a quick flick of her wand, she severed the rope binding. "Let's go!" Hermione urged her mother. The two sprinted for the doorway but Leslie was too slow. Bellatrix had pushed the body lying atop her off. Shrugging her wand arm free she was able to send a curse out hitting Leslie in the back.

Hearing her mother's cry of pain, Hermione spun around mid-sprint. Leslie now lay on the floor, the back of her favorite white shirt stained red. Looking up she saw Bellatrix shrug off the rest of her father's body and prepare to fire another curse. Realizing she didn't have time or room to dodge, Hermione transfigured the wall to jut out and shield her. The muggleborn witch did this just in time as the curse impacted. Seizing the moment of confusion she ran through the house.

Hermione had just sprinted to the other end of the kitchen and was about to close the door again when Snape tried to barge though. "You insolent mudblood," growled Snape trying to force himself through the door. Panicked, Hermione opened the door briefly and transfigured the doorstop. The doorstop at the bottom of the door was turned into a metal spike. Slamming the door shut again, she turned Snape's foot into a kabob. Opening the door the door slightly she blasted the potions master away dislocating his left arm.

Bellatrix and Dolohov, the third death eater, had meanwhile just arrived to see Snape sent flying. Rushing though the two tried to force themselves by the door but found it barred. Dolohov bypassed it by backing up and launching an explosive hex. Running through, now with Snape who picked himself up, the trio of death eaters tried to force their way through the house but found a transfigured obstacle course in their way.

Meanwhile Hermione had found herself in the garage. Not having practical way to escape the death eaters, she tried to think of a way to kill or disable them. Having an idea in mind, she quickly went to work. Silencing the car engine, she started it, her father kept the keys in sun visor. She then used three spells; one was the bubblehead charm while the other sped up the car engine causing it to produce deadly gases much faster. The third spell was an enchantment and gave the tank an endless supply of gas.

Hermione's plans were not done however. She knew that the deadly gasses now filling up the garage would not stop them, at least not for long. To assist her plans she transfigured the tail pipe of the car. Using another bubblehead charm around the door, she focused all the gas in one spot. Seizing another opportunity, she placed some floating debris in the bubble, in the perfect spots for her plan. Done with her task she quickly made herself a makeshift bunker in just the right spot. At this point, she was glass she left so many traps as the death eaters broke in just moments after she finished her trap.

Stumbling into the room, the death eaters started to grasp for air. Seeing her chance Hermione cast the first of two spells. The first was a dark arts curse. It turned the air into something more combustible. The reason it was considered part of the darks arts was that nearly any spell could ignite the transfigure air. In addition, if used directly on a person it could cause their lungs to explode.

The second spell was a simple flame spell setting off her trap. The spell hit the now combustible gas in the funnel setting out an exploding shockwave. The shockwave exploded along the funnel before destroying it and pushing the debris Hermione set into the death eaters.

Seizing the moment Hermione, relatively immune from the blast in the bunker burst out and preceded to finished the job. She stunned Bellatrix and Dolohov. While stunning them she noticed that the debris she set had logged itself into his chest. Moving on to Snape, she had a hard time not killing him. The feelings of betrayal that a _teacher_ could do this to her and her family were overwhelming. A curse on the tip of her tongue she was about to kill her professor when she started coughing. Realizing that the shockwave destroyed the bubblehead charm causing her to breath in carbon dioxide she stunned Snape and moved to find a way out of the house.

Coughing, Hermione blew a hole through the garage door. Once she exited the garage, she came onto a scene of absolute pandemonium. She recognized the golden brown robes of the aurors. There were others going around in blue robes and was not sure what they were doing. Looking around she was disturbed from her thoughts when a familiar face approached her. Looking up, she saw the sad face and pink hair of Nymphadora Tonks.

_**-HPTNDL-**_

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> Again sorry for the wait… now on to the point of this AN…

I know I may have warned that the story would get really dark and gory this and you may have noticed it's not. Well, I tried writing this chapter more like that but it didn't work. It came off cheesy and not very good. So, I toned it down a bit. This is why you also noticed a lack of story around the attack on the Longbottoms. No, this is not a mistake. After writing the scene a few different ways it never felt right and now I have new plans for Neville. Plans that I'm sure many will not like.

Now, on a sad note… I have to say don't expect very frequent updates for now. I'm likely to become busy again and focused on other things. I will update when I can but don't expect any sort of frequency…

I'm not sure if you noticed but I got bored with this chapter. You know what though, I'm tired of dealing with it so it's time to move on.


	11. Williams

**The New Dark Lord**

**A/N: Sorry for the very long delay. My computer died a few months ago and it took me a while to get my filed recovered onto the new PC. Then some other stuff happened that pushed things back even more.**

**I'm going to try to put out more regular updates but we will see what happens. This chapter is a little short I think but a longer chapter never felt right to me. Took forever to get it right and I still think it could be better, but I really want to just get back into the swing of things. **

**Also, using a new word program so some of the formatting could be off and character spelling. Will fix it when I get a chance.**

**Now, on with the story! Again...**

**Chapter 11: Williams**

The last week was come and go for one Ginny Weasley. Her fall from the sky did a massive number on her. The bones in her arms and legs were all broken to varying degrees. Where the real damage however, was her back. Taking the brunt of the impact she was lucky to be alive. Her spine was almost broken in two with several being completely shattered. She also had severe broken ribs, a punctured lung, and major internal beading.

Even with magic it was hard to tell if she would survive for a few days. Then it was hard to tell if she would even heal. Even with magic, such injuries were very serious. What made things more difficult was that Harry was uncomfortable taking her to St. Mungos, the magical hospital. He had no idea what had happened for the portkey to malfunction like it did, so he was unsure who could be trusted. Obviously there was a death eater attack at the burrow, but he knew from her letter, that Ginny no longer felt comfortable around Ron and Molly.

If he had taken her to St. Mungos, her parents would surly be informed. That could not happen. Not unless he got all the facts. As far as he was aware, Ginny was an ally until something happened to change that. There was the remote chance that this was an elaborate ruse. Though that was unlikely. Harry could not imagine Molly Weasley cooking up a plan that would potentially kill her only daughter.

This situation resulted in a dilemma. Ginny needed medical help, but he could not take her to the hospital. What was he to do then...

_1 week ago..._

Harry looked down at Ginny Weasley inside a small crater where she had landed. Unsure of her condition, he preformed a levitation spell and lifted her up. As he did he noticed that her body now had several odd shapes under the skin, and that her entire body was resting at odd angles. Panicking, Harry rushed her inside to one of the guest rooms and promptly set her down on the bed.

Daphne he had rushed to help, was standing at the door. When Harry placed her on the bed Ginny's body spasmed and she started having a seizure and spitting blood out her mouth.

Reacting quickly Daphne cast "_sanguis a'ris!_". The soft orange spell hit Ginny and the blood leaking from her mouth stopped. They were replaced with soft bubbles and small rise and fall of her chest, albeit very small.

"What was that," Harry asked, panic and worry clearly in his voice.

Daphne gave Harry a look that clearly said they would talk later while moving to attend to Ginny. "An emergency medical spell. Allows somebody drowning in their own blood to breath normally for a short time." looking back to Harry, her face was contorted into one of intensity and business. "If you want her to live, I suggest you get help, _now_."

It was pretty close after that. Harry had no idea where to get help. Any help he got from Mungos would raise too many questions and authority's would be alerted. At the same time however, where else _could_ he get help. He doubted that Madam Pomfrey would be equipped to deal with this situation. Seeing no other alternatives, Harry got the location for St. Mungos from Daphne and put on a thick white cloak with black lining. He also grabbed his invisibility cloak for extra stealth just in case.

Harry was just about to leave the manor when Daphne came from behind. Turning around she gave him a soft kiss before speaking. "You're going to Mungos, right?" at his nod she continued "Look for a healer named _Rick__ Williams_. He's a friend of the family, knows his stuff, helped me when I was younger, just say that _"his favorite little snake needs his help."_

Seeing that he understood what she had said, Daphne hit him in the arm, "And don't think this doesn't mean I'm not mad at you. But right now you're friend needs help, we _will_, talk later."

Harry nodded though he did not understand why Daphne was mad at him. Was it because of Ginny? Was there bad blood between Daphne and Ginny. If so, what. What else could she be mad about? Harry did not have time to ponder this further as he left the manor in search of this _Rick__ Williams. _

Harry focused on a spot he knew was near the hospital. Turning mid stride he disappeared into a cloud of black smoke that collapsed into a small pin point of light. At the same time, hundreds of miles away he reappeared in the reverse process. Putting the hood of his cloak up Harry made his way to the street. There were many muggles on the sidewalk. Harry was glad he placed the spells he did on the cloak.

Among them was a mild notice me not charm, as well as an indifference spell. The combination allowed Harry to blend in flawlessly with the crowds. The hospital was only a short distance away now. Harry could see the abandoned building it was disguised as now. Approaching the building he opened the door and entered. Powerful charms were on the door that prevented muggles from noticing or remembering anything about the building or any who entered.

Harry opened the door to the building and entered quietly. He drew little attention from those in the lobby. The spells forcing those who saw him to become uninterested. As long as he did not do anything to draw attention none should be directed towards him. That's the way he wanted it. He wanted this visit to remain discrete.

As he moved further into the building he took note of the design of the hospital. The floors were all made from white tile with a slight patina from decades, perhaps centuries, of use as he was unsure when the hospital was built. The while tile continued about half way up the wall where it then continued with a simple white wall. The entire place felt boring and sterile, even with the slight staining on the floor.

On either side of the door there was two large siting areas. Each section had seven rows of double sided benches across three columns. There was only about a dozen or so people there waiting, spread out across both rooms. They paid Harry no mind as he strode forward to the front desk.

There was a mild amount of space between both sitting areas and the round desk. The desk itself was made from wood painted white with black trim along the bottom and the top along the counter. The counter was made from black marble and dwarfed the three witches behind the desk.

Walking up, Harry spoke up, "excuse me, I'm looking for a healer Williams." he said.

Looking from from her magazine, distraction during the slow hospital hours, she registered the question but not the man asking it. The spells affecting her as if Harry was a subtle voice in the back of her head. Pulling out a moderate tome, she quickly looked up Healer Williams.

"I only have one healer Williams, a Rick. He's on the 3rd floor, trauma recovery. Is there anything else?" she asked.

Harry merely ignored her and moved to the stairs behind the desk. There were several banks of elevators but they were labeled as for patient and staff use only. It did not take long to make it to the third floor walking up the stairs. He wished he got better directions though. Had arrived at a scene of pandemonium. The top of the stairs split into a there way intersection. Left, right, and center were all packed with patients and healers running about tending to them.

The scene looked a lot worse than it did for the most part. Looking at most of the patients Harry noticed that they were auror's with minor injures. Seeing a healer walk past Harry asked him where he could find Williams. Harry walked down the center corridor and turned left. He saw who he was looking for just a few rooms down, noticing the name on his uniform.

He was half way there when he was forced to duck into one of the rooms when he heard...

"Now, Nymphadora, I must insist that I gain custody over Miss Granger after her injuries have been treated." came the voice of Harry's headmaster and now enemy, Albus Dumbledore.

"_No,_" Tonks growled. "Snevilus, one of _your_ professors, was found in death eater robes at her home. I'm not releasing her to you unless I can help it." she spat.

Harry heard Dumbledore sigh powerfully, "I must _insist._" he intoned.

"_insist,"_ Tonks said with venom, "all you want. You have no authority here and you know it. And don't pull that 'I'm the chief whatever of whatever' bull crap." she yelled. "_I, _will find proper care for her. Not you. Not when somebody you 'vouched' for, is suspected of murdering her parents! Now go before I remove you myself!"

Harry knew Dumbledore was pissed going buy the sputtering going on in there. This was confirmed a moment later when he strode furiously away from the room. Feeling safe from being seen by Albus, Harry peeked around the door and into the room. Tonks back was now to him, her hair the reddest red he had ever seen. She was still in her auror uniform and was looking out the window.

"that's right run away you buggering old coot," Harry heard her mutter.

Looking next to her on the bed, was Hermione. She was in simple clothes, much like what she would wear at school. Except however they were burnt and singed along with her hair. Physically she looked fine to Harry, except her eyes. Her eyes were hallow and haunted. Harry didn't know what happened to her but if the talk between Dumbledore and Tonks was anything to go buy there as a major attack on her home and that her parents were now dead and Snape was involved.

Harry held no doubt that she was a friend of his still. Though he could not help her, not right now. His first priory was Ginny. Hermione was in good hands with Tonks even if he was unsure of her position. Moving away for now Harry conjured up a temporary portkey. Something he seamed to be doing a lot of lately. This time however he infused some of his magic so the healer could be transported directly to the guest room with Ginny.

Walking up behind Williams, Harry shoved him into a room discreetly. This, in hind sight was probably not the correct thing to do as he freaked out. Stumbling into the room he grabbed a large beaker off a cart and positioned to attack his seaming assailant.

"Who are you, what do you want!" he stammered nervously.

Harry smirked getting his first look at the healer Daphne recommended. He was skinny as a rail and looked to be in his mid thirty's with short brown hair. He had blue 'kind eyes' and a straight nose.

"Relax, you're favorite little snake sent me." Harry said starring him down. Though he was not going to take any chances, just because Daphne trusted him, did not mean he did. It was for this reason that he had his wand drawn just in case.

Hearing what the unknown man said, Rick lowered the beaker he was about to use as a weapon just a little. "Why did Daphne send you, what's happened." he asked worried, his priority's shifting slightly.

"Daphne is fine," Harry said calmly. "Its a friend of mine who's hurt. Daphne said you could be trusted. I'm afraid the current situation requires discretion. This is why I'm approaching you like this." Harry then explained.

The man didn't quite believe his assailant yet. However he did lower his weapon just a little more. "How do I know you can be trusted? That you're not going to kill me or something. There's already been seven victims tonight. I will not be the eighth!"

"Believe me when I say, if I wanted to attack or kill you, I would have done so already." Harry said releasing a bit of his power. "Now, if you're going to help me, take this portkey, NOW" Harry growled. "I'm afraid my friend does not have much time."

Feeling the mans power, Williams complied. Though he had further duties here, this sounded urgent. And if his favorite cousin was involved, all the more reason to find out. Nodding, he took the portkey and promptly vanished. Harry feeling that Ginny would soon be taken care of, moved back down the hall to where Hermione was being tended too.

When he arrived back at the room and shrugged off the hood to his robe before entering and coughing softly.

"I thought I told you to fuck off old man." growled Tonks.

Harry could not help but smirking. "I don't think he will be coming back Tonks," he said.

Harry was surprised by how fast she turned and moved to embrace him in an enveloping hug. Harry returned the hug, albeit awkwardly. "hello to you too Tonks." Harry mumbled out.

"Harry!, where have you been how are you!" she asked quickly while releasing him and holding him at arms length.

"Tonks, I'm fine," he said evenly. "I'm here for Hermione." he finished looking at his friend. During the interaction between Tonks and Harry she had not moved or said anything. She remained as she was when he had first seen her earlier, still and lifeless.

"good," said Tonks sadly. "She needs to go somewhere. And without any magical relatives, her placement would be left to the Ministry, specifically child services, overseen by the chief warlock..."

Harry looked back to Tonks, "what about other family?" he asked.

Tonks shook her head. "The statue of secrecy prevents it, only those 'in the know' could take her."

Harry frowned, if that's the case why was he placed with the Dursleys, even against the will of his parents?

Sensing his question Tonks met him ahead of the curve, "You were a special case Harry. You're aunt already knew because her sister was a witch, and everybody thought at the time that it was the will of your parents to be placed there. Such overrides are possible, but rare. And in this case, Hermione is a muggleborn with no magical will from her parents."

"Can I take her, at least until I can take custody?" He then asked.

"Yea, if you can get her to agree," said Tonks. "She's not said a thing since we responded to the attack."

Harry moved over to his friend. Keeling down he placed his hand on her knee and looked up to her. "Hermione, it's Harry. I want you to come with me."

Only her eyes moved, cold and dull they were hollow of the life that once shone from them. "harry..." she mumbled, almost in audibly.

"yes Harry, you're friend. You can say with me Hermione." he said again.

There was silence for a moment as Hermione just stared at Harry. Tonks was looking on, her normally happy complexion changed into one of sadness for the horror that had happened.

"he killed them Harry." Hermione said softly. "he killed my parents. He was a professor... why Harry?"

"I don't know Hermione..." Harry said projecting sadness while holding back the rage that was building. He vowed that Snape would pay, and that Hermione would collect. "I really don't know. Why don't you come with me, and we can find out together? Just like we used to."

"OK Harry..." Hermione replied.

"Well, now that that's settled." Tonks said in the background. "I can legally let her go with you. Though permanent guardianship will still have to be determined. Harry nodded before he left with Hermione. He would make sure his friend came back to him, and that Ginny would get better. Then, those responsible would pay.


	12. Dark Roots in Paradise

**Harry Potter, The New Dark Lord**

**A/N:**What's this? An update? Another one? Surely you think I jest? Nope. It's an update. A real update! Extended A/N will be at the bottom.

**Chapter 12: Dark Roots in Paradise**

Harry side along apparated Hermione to Potter manor. Appearing outside, Harry walked Hermione to the main door and into the manor. Closing the door behind him Harry looked to Hermione. She had stopped in the middle of the entry way, unmoving. It filled Harry with sadness to see his friend so broken. The once inquisitive girl, eager to learn with a strong sense of equality, particularly to the house elves and other creatures, had been replaced by a hollow doll.

Harry was sure she would cope in her own time. For now though he would help her as best as he could. "Mindy," Harry called out followed by the soft pop of the house elf.

"Yes, Lord Potter sirs." said the family elf.

"Mindy," Harry said quietly, not sure how Hermione would react right now. "My friend here, Hermione, has recently been through quite the ordeal and will be staying in one of the guest rooms for now. However, she needs some of her things from her... home. Could you please retrieve them and place them in the room next to hers?"

"Yes Lord Potter sir," said Mindy before disappearing again. Harry wanted her tings in a different room so Hermione could deal with them on her own time. It would not do her any good to surround her with fresh reminders just yet.

"Come on Hermione, lets find you a room." Harry said placing his hand on her shoulder. Breaking from her daze Hermione followed mutely behind him. Harry led her through the mansion to the guest wing. Opening one of the first rooms he led her inside. She quickly sat on the bed and looked out the window tow the grounds.

The room was simple yet elegant. It had nothing too fancy or elaborate, just enough for any guests to spread out and relax when not interacting with the Lord or Lady of the house on extended stays. Making sure Hermione was as settled as possible, Harry told her he would return shortly after he checked on Daphne and Ginny. If Hermione heard him she gave no sign.

Just as Harry left the guest room, Mindy returned. "Master Harry sirs, I is doing as asked."

"Very good Mindy," Harry smiled. "Now, I want you or another elf to discreetly watch Hermione. If she needs anything please attend to her as you would me."

"Yes Master Potter's sir," said Mindy before vanishing again.

Looking back to the room Hermione was staying in Harry marched down the hall to the other guest room that Ginny was in. Opening the door he saw that Daphne was still in the room watching Williams work.

"Ah, Lord Potter. It's good to meet you without the subterfuge." he said smiling slightly.

"Indeed," Harry said simply looking to Daphne. She barely acknowledged his presence, merely looking at him with a blank expression. _'Great, she's still mad about something'_ thought Harry.

Harry moved closer to Daphne on the opposite side of the bed from the healer. "How's Ginny?" he asked nobody in particular.

"Well," started Williams. "I've manged to stop part of the internal beading at least so she can breathe. Thought she is by no means out of the woods yet. It will be quite some time before she regains conscious, let along get out of this bed." he gestured.

"but she will live?" Harry asked the important question.

There was silence for a moment as Rick Williams, the healer, thought on his question. "Yes and no." he replied after a moment. "If she is monitored closely for the next week or so she will regain consciousness. However, she has extensive damaged to her spine and other bones. Even with potions such injuries are very dangerous and tricky to heal. She could very well be confined to a bed for the rest of her life."

"Thank you," Harry said solemnly. "Doctor, when you get a moment, I would like to speak with you later." Williams nodded. Leaning down to Daphne, Harry quietly said, "can we talk?"

Nodding Daphne got up and left the room Harry close behind, "don't hex him too bad sweetie, I already have my hands full with this one!"

"I won't harm him too badly," Daphne smirked as she called back.

Harry frowned as Daphne led him to the library. Harry sat down in one of the couches as Daphne paced in a frenzy behind the other couch in front of him.

"What's wro..." he started to say.

"Cut it," she growled as she continued to pace. Her mind an ocean of thoughts. All of which seeming to fuel her ire. "I'm not going to be something you keep in the house and parade around when it suits you."

"Daphne, what are..." Harry stated to say again.

"I _said_, cut it!" she yelled stopping to look right at him. The fireplace and the end of the library casting dark shadows across them as she continued to stride back and forth several more times. "When you fight, I expect to be right there with you." she stopped pacing and stared at him again. She was leaning forward, her arms out to grip the back of the couch. It gave her a rather intimidating look.

"I don't care if it's on the battle filed or the board room." she said with force. "I _will_ be by your side."

"But you're not..."

"Not what," she said. "Strong enough? Smart enough? I may not be Harry 'too many abilities, next Merlin' Potter, but I guarantee I'm just as strong and smart as you." she growled. Harry could only nod.

"Another thing," she said after a moment, her anger building again. "Just why did you invite the littlest redling here?

Harry frowned. _'Why was she upset that Ginny was here?'_ he thought. "She sent me a letter," he said.

"_And?_" Daphne growled for him to continue.

"She said she did not feel safe at home with the two traitors. I felt she would be a good ally and so I invited her here."

Daphne's eyes narrowed as she stared him down across the center table. "You invited another woman here. Without speaking to _me_." she growled.

"Daphne," Harry said speaking with conviction. "Ginny Weasley, is _nothing_ more then a friend..."

"I don't care." she said matter of factly. "I expect you to inform me when you invite someone here."

"What about Granger?" she then snapped. Harry was briefly surprised that she knew Hermione was here. "I know she's here. I'm keyed into the wards just as you are. I 'felt' her enter. Besides I saw her in the guest room."

"Again, nothing more then a friend." Harry stated trying to figure out how to calm her down. Harry could see as well as feel that she as starting to loose control. "She's more like the sister I never had. She lost her parents tonight Daphne, she needed somewhere to go. Needs, somewhere to go."

"Don't tell me you're thinking about adopting her!" said Daphne. "you are aren't you!" followed after seeing his expression. "this is rich, you're younger then she is, what makes you think you can adopt her!"

"Snape was responsible for the deaths of her Parents, Daphne." Harry said. "_Professor_ Snape, who is not only close to Dumbledore, but Voldemort as well. The attack may have been ordered by Voldemort, but I'm sure Snape told Dumbledore. And he seemed really focused on getting control of her, no doubt to either finish the deed, or more likely free his pet."

"It's not going to happen!" Daphne retorted. "Whether you're emancipated or not, she is still _older_ then you."

"She's perfectly fine to take care of her self. I'm sure I could offer her own emancipation soon after."

"She's still _older_ then you. Not by much sure, but the courts will not see it that way." she said. "You will surely loose any fight for custody."

"I have to try." Harry said with conviction. "She's my friend. Right now, she needs my help."

"_Whatever_," Daphne said with finality. "_I'm_,going to bed."

"Me too," Harry said thinking it was over. "I'm exhausted."

"Not tonight you aren't." said Daphne. "you will be sleeping here tonight."

Harry sat back down crossing his arms while muttering under his breath, "aspiring dark lord, and I can't even sleep in my own bed." he grumbled.

Several hours later Harry Potter lay awake on the couch in the library. A fresh set of linens were laid out for him thanks to Mindy. The fire place behind him now dimming, was still casting soft flickers across the room. Harry was trying to sleep but he could not get the situation with Daphne out of his mind right now.

Sighing, Harry swung out of the couch and put a night robe on that was laying on one of the arm chairs. Putting it on he wandered through the manor. Taking a peak into the master bed room he saw Daphne on her side of the bed, the blankets wrapped around her except for one hand reaching across his side. Her previous face of anger replaced by peaceful sleep.

Closing the door behind him Harry made his way back through the manor in search of his Parents portraits. He soon game to a special room on the ground floor under the guest wing. Opening the double wood doors Harry entered the portrait room.

The room was very simple, almost bare. The only major furniture was the portraits of Potters past across the walls. Not all of them were here of course, only lords and ladies of the family and significant family members. Between each portrait was a candle and arm holder all of them giving a nice even light across the room, not too bright, and not too grim given the dark wood floors and paneling.

As he walked to the back he noticed that most of the portraits were asleep. In the very middle of the back wall was the two portraits that he was looking for, those of his parents. Coughing lightly Harry woke them up from their 'sleep'.

"Oh, hello Harry dear." said his mom, Lily, giving a fake yawn. "wake up James, Harry's here." she then said looking over to her husbands portrait. James however continued to 'snore'. Reaching into his portrait from hers, she smacked him gently.

"Whaaa," James said sleepy. "oh its you Lily, I was just having the most wonderful dream. It was back on our honeymoon and you had just..."

"James!" Lily hissed. "Harry's here!"

"Harry?" James questioned. Looking over to where a now blushing Harry was James said, "oh, hello there."

"Hello," Harry could only say.

Sensing the now awkward conversation, Lily said, "Harry, can we help you with something?"

"Yes," said Harry breaking from the moment. "I need some advice."

"With?" Lily questioned.

"Daphne," Harry said.

"Ah, the young Lady Potter, how is she?" asked James.

"Kinda pissed at me actually." Harry stated.

Lily asked him to explain. As Harry went through the story the portraits of his parents patiently listened. He explained to him the attack and that he did invite Ginny to stay with him, as well has his plans to take custody of Hermione to his conversation with Daphne before he was banished to the couch for the night.

"Harry," said Lily, "how did you and Daphne marry, and how long have you known each other?"

"She approached me with proposal," Harry started. "a marriage contract for one year, during which she would teach me things I needed to know. As for low long I've known her, I _knew_ of her at school. Didn't know her really until she approached me."

"That contract is actually similar to the one my parents tried to arrange with Lily" said James.

Harry was a little shocked at that bit of information. "I never thought you and mom were contracted?" he said looking at both of them.

"No, we weren't." James explained. "Though when my parents learned of my crush on Lily, a muggleborn witch..."

Seeing the look of confusion on his face, Lilly explained further. "James's parents fount out about his crush on me at the end of seventh year." she said. "Knowing that I was muggleborn, James's parents approached mine with a proposal."

"The proposal was," James continued. "In exchange for protection, Lily would give me a chance for a few months."

"That seems like an odd arrangement," Harry said.

"It was," Lily said. "James's parents wrote to mine, asking if they could come over to discuss the current state of things. And that they would like to propose an arrangement for James and myself."

"My parents explained that there was a new 'dark lord' rising in the wings." said James. "that he was starting to attack with increasing frequency. Among is favorite targets, were the muggleborn and their familys."

Harry listened with rapt attention as the portraits of his parents explained how they got together. They continued to switch off who was speaking. They explained that when James's parents visited Lily's, they offered to ward their home in case of attack and to ensure their safety, as well as that of lily.

At first Lily was strongly against it. Telling her parents that James was a jerk who spent too much time pranking and making a fools of others. Lily's parents eventually got her to agree. The contract that the Potters drew up offered the Evans protection even after Lily gave James a chance.

The reason that the Potters were so adamant that Lily give James a chance, was that they were fierce opponents of the pure blood movement. This earned them the animosity of not only Voldemort and his followers, but those who supported them indirectly. Voldemort's forces were starting to cause terror throughout warding Britain.

Those who opposed them were quickly dying off by 'mysterious' means. It was because of this that many were marrying young just out of Hogwarts, or contracts were made, usually between those who were already dating. The contracts cemented the safety of the family in case the worst happened or to make their family appear as neutral as possible. This left the dating pool very restrictive. If you were with someone who's family was either accused of being dark, or light. You were hated by the other. Things were worse for muggleborns. The only options they really had at the time was to date someone strongly against Voldemort and his ilk as well as their belifs.

"After I agreed, my parents wrote back and a date was set to meet at Gringotts to sign the contract." Lily continued. "However, before that day came..."

"My parents were murdered," James said solemnly. "Attacked in their home one night. I almost didn't make it out myself."

"Why weren't they staying here?" Harry asked. "Surely they would have been safer here then anywhere else?"

"My father never liked Potter Manor," James said simply. "he always felt it was too big for the three of us. We did stay here occasionally. Only for big parties or occasions though."

"If grandfather was dead," said Harry, "how did the contract work out?"

"It didn't." James said simply. "I was so broken after the death of my parents. And I never thought lily would agree to the contract if I was the one vouching for it."

"At the time I wouldn't have," Lilly agreed. "Thought he did have some wards put up anyway, which was sweet." Lily smiled.

"I couldn't do a whole lot though," said James. "Even though I was the only one left of the Potters at the time, the will my parents wrote only left me modest sum until my 17th birthday. After that though I would have access to everything. It seems my parents knew of my exploits at Hogwarts and didn't think it best to give a 16 year old with a history of pranking a large sum of money." James smiled.

"I only wish I as able to do more," James added. "After we graduated, shortly before we married, Death Eaters attacked Lilly's home, killing her parents."

The portrait of Lily cried for a moment. "When we started school again." she said. "My joy at being head girl was marred by learning that I shared the privilege with James. Something that eventually proved to be a blessing." she smiled at James who smiled brightly.

"With my responsibility as head boy and the events of the summer, I grew up a lot." said James. "I still pulled pranks. But I stopped picking on specific people or groups."

"Needing to work so closely together James and I got very close," said Lily.

"Soon we started dating, and at the end of seventh year, we married." James finished.

"Wow," Harry could only say. He was amazed by how everything seemed to nudge them together little by little.

"The point is this Harry," said James. "She may be mad at you right now, and you both may hardly know each other. Use this year under the contract to get to know each other. If things don't work out you both tried. But sometimes, two people come together in the most unlikely of situations."

"Marriage is not something entered into lightly." Said Lily. "if she was the one who approached you, you can be sure she as some feelings for you. Though she's lily unsure what. Give it time. It will work or it wont."

"What if she's just using me?" asked Harry. "Trying to ride off my fame, fortune, or ambition."

"A reasonable thing to worry about," said James. "Though If I remember right, the Greengrass family has always been quite respectable. Not sure how well off they are but they've always been rumored to be quite wealthy. As for ambition, what is yours?" asked James.

Harry took pause for a moment. He was uncertain how much to tell the portraits of his parents. Did he tell them he was turning dark? That he knew of the Potters secret linage? Did he tell them, that he was sick of the fighting over who's better? Muggleborn or Pure-blood? That he was tired of their world living in secret, that he was determined and prepared to bring unity, though force to bridge the worlds?

Harry didn't think that was a good thing to tell them, not yet. "I'm not entirely sure yet." he lied. "I was thinking about being an auror. Now, I'm looking at other, options." Harry said smoothly.

"well let us know when you do." said Lily to which Harry nodded. "No matter what you do, I'm sure we'll be proud."

"Thanks," Harry said. "I'm going to go check on Hermione and Ginny. And move into one of the guest rooms." said Harry moving to leave. Harry didn't know why he didn't do that in the first place.

"Harry," called Lily. "If Daphne already thinks that you have feelings for Ginny and or Hermione, you may want to just stay in the library tonight. Otherwise she's probably going to be more mad than she already is..."

This cause Harry to grumble, "dark lord, can't even sleep in a bed." he muttered as he left waving goodbye to his parents.

"Did he say, 'dark lord'?" questioned James as Harry closed the door behind him.

"I think so," Lily replied. "Do you think he knows about the secret lineage?

"It would be safe to assume he does," James said, now serious.

"What do we tell him, if he's embraced it..."Lily asked softly.

James moved over to her portrait and held her close to him. "We support him as best we can. No matter what he's still our son." he said with conviction. "Are you ok with this Lily, I know I told you about it before we married but..."

"I'm fine James," she said. "I expected that it would be our Harry. Now do we tell him that we know, or let him tell us?" The question hung in the air for a moment before they went back to their 'sleep'.

Harry moved through the house and back up to the guest wing. First he check in with Williams to see how Ginny was doing. She was still in a dangerous condition but he was sure she would recover. When Harry entered to check on her, Williams was just preparing to leave as he needed to get some ingredients for some potions. He could not take any from Mungo's as they needed their stock.

Nodding Harry filled him in on the location of the manor so he could return. The special form of the fidelius limiting guests to those who were invited or brought here. Williams was not gone for long. Returning only after a half hour or so with what he needed, which was a lot. He brought with him two full extended trunks full of tools and ingredients.

Satisfied that Ginny was in good hands Harry moved across the hall to check on Hermione. Knocking softly on the door, Harry entered the room. She was still sitting up looking out to the grounds through the tall window. Moving around the bed Harry looked at his friend. She still had that haunted look, but her hands, previously flat on her knees were balled into fists.

"My parents are dead," she said sounding more like a question than a statement.

"They are," said Harry.

"A _professor_ Killed them." she said simply. "a teacher. Murdered my parents." her voice now carried a hard edge to it, replacing the doll like tone she had when she previously spoke. "as a teacher, their job, is to impart knowledge, skills, and wisdom. Making the next generation better than the one before."

Harry moved closer to her, the moon light was shining through part of the window, lighting up only half the room, and half of Hermione.

"_Snape_," she spat. "Violated that bond. Where he should have brought wisdom, he brought misery and pain. And now I am alone..." for the first time that night, she turned to look at Harry. The moon light light up one side of her face while casting the other into shadow.

Her body still showed that she was depressed. Her eyes changed though as Harry looked at her. One, lit by the moon, burned with anger. And in the other shined with a new fire. Despite being hidden by shadow, it burned bright and strong.

"_he __**will**__ pay."_

Harry never expected the tone of malice coming from his friend, and he smiled.

**-TNDL-**

**A/N:** Sorry if this chapter feels a little rushed and low quality. There isn't much that needed to be done for this chapter as it's basically continuing where the last one left off as we move on to other things. The next chapter or two may be on another delay. I know what they will be about most likely, (one Harry meets Daphne's parents and sister as well as brings in Draco. The other will probably be either more on Nickolas or Hermione. Also, Harry and Daphne will have a deeper conversation dealing with the nights events.)

For those who have commented that Hermione is becoming the next Bella, you're right sort of. I don't think she's going to be as much of a fighter as Bella. Her strengths are mental, not physical.

Anyways. I'm not sure what else needs or can be done for this chapter so I'm going to go ahead and upload it. I know you guys have been waiting patiently for more, and I thank you.

If you have a specific question a PM is better then a review. I try to answer those as best as I can but I keep PM notifications in my inbox longer then those for reviews.

If there are any errors I will fix them ASAP. Right now, I have to get ready for work!

Until next time!


	13. Lets Talk?

**Harry Potter, The New Dark Lord**

**A/N: Wow, been awhile yes? I apologize that I'm so bad about updating. Let's just say between work and other things I'm easily distracted. I'll try and get more frequent updates going again but won't promise anything. I've recently been promoted at work and that's probably going to take up more of my time. **

**I'm currently working on chapter 14. Going to aim for a chapter as long as this one or perhaps even a little longer. It might be awhile before it's posted but I'm aiming for no more than a few weeks before it's up. We'll see about that however. I'm going to try and get things moving along after this. Hopefully I can start writing again when we get unstuck from this day of attacks and everything else that's been going on because of it.**

**This chapter mostly deals with what happened between Harry and Daphne last chapter. I realize the way it's handled is a little too convenient / soft / maybe cheesy. I'm sure I'm going to get called on it and maybe a few more things. But whatever. It's time to get the story going again. As usual I've done my best to fix most of the errors and what not. I'll try to correct anything major if its brought to my attention.**

**Now on with the show!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 13:<strong> **Little Talks?**

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><p>With a soft click Harry closed the door behind himself. He smiled as he thought how easy it would be to turn Hermione dark already. The tone of her voice and the look in her eyes showed to Harry that she was on the edge, she just needed a little push. Harry believed that Hermione always had the will and curiosity to learn the dark arts. All that was missing was the motivation. Something that she was certainly not lacking now.<p>

On his way back to the library to sleep for the night, after the exhausting events of the day. Harry thought back to the conversation with his parents. Specifically when his parents asked him what his ambition was.

_'Before the will reading, that answer would have been so simple'_ Harry thought. '_A normal life, maybe a family, surrounded by my friends, No dark lords... Now I'm becoming a dark lord myself, and my friends are not who I thought they were, and now I'm married to a witch I hardly know.'_ Harry thought as he made a stop by the master bedroom to check on Daphne. Her blonde hair was splayed across the pillows as she rolled on her right side, arm reaching out to the empty side, where he would usually sleep.

_'How do I feel about her?'_ he asked himself. In the brief time they had known each other he had enjoyed her company. He could easily see them becoming much closer. _'This... jealousy, from her though is a bit of a problem.'_ Harry thought watching his blonde queen from the doorway. _'I suppose we need to talk in the morning'_ he resigned as he closed the door again and made his way back to the library, his banishment for the night.

Crawling onto the couch and covering himself with a few blankets, he started to think about his plans. _'Unity... or destruction'_ which route did he really want. When growing up he had firsthand experience with just how bigoted and nasty muggles could be. The last few years in the wizarding world taught him just how bigoted wizards could be as well. _'Did either of them really deserve to be exterminated? Who's worse, Wizards, or muggles?'_ What his parents said to him really got his thoughts going. What was better, unite both worlds through force, even though they may resent him for it, or burn it all down and let a new world rise from the ashes?

During this train of thought Harry realized he needed to know a few things. '_Just how many magicals were there in the world?'_ He really did not know. If he eliminated the world of muggles, would magicals die out too without the muggleborn? Any genocide would have to be done from the shadows. An open war would be devastating. Muggles were so imaginative when it came to killing. And wizards were still fragile, if long lived.

That to Harry was a chilling thought, made all the more real by the severity of Ginny's injuries. Even with magic and longer life spans than muggles, they were still easy to hurt and kill. Magic it seems is not an unstoppable force. '_There has to be a balance between the two options'._ Harry thought. For right now he was over thinking things as he reminded himself he still had Voldemort and Dumbledora to deal with. Putting his thoughts to rest for now, he turned over and fell to sleep.

**-TNDL-**

When Harry awoke in the morning he stretched as best as he could on the cramped couch. He soon became aware of another person in the room and looked over to see Daphne curled up in one of the arm chairs. There was a small blanket pulled around her as her face was tiled back against the chair and slightly to the side as she breathed softly.

Harry wondered when she woke up. Grabbing his wand he cast a quick _tempus_ to see what time it was. He frowned briefly when he noticed that it was already early in the afternoon. Sliding out of the covers, Harry walked over and gently shook Daphne.

"Daphne," he yawned. "It's quarter past one." he said shaking her.

"Five more minutes," Daphne mumbled pulling the blanket closer.

"Last call," said Harry shaking her gently.

"Oh fine," she grumbled sleepily as she stretched in the chair and looked at Harry.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Harry asked curious.

Daphne looked down and away for a moment, and softly said, "I woke up at about 8." she started. "I... wanted to apologize but you were still sleeping," her voice sounded softer than usual. "And so... I waited for you to wake up... so we could talk."

"Hmmm…" said Harry causing Daphne to frown.

"Daphne, we do _need_ to talk." Harry said calmly. "Can we do it after breakfast though? After we've had time to clear our heads a little?"

Daphne agreed though she was slightly annoyed but didn't admit it. Nodding anyway Daphne got up and followed Harry to the dining hall drawing her night robe closer. On the way they made a quick stop by their bedroom to change to more appropriate attire. It would not be good with guests in the house to see them in their sleep wear.

Making their way back down to the kitchen they were greeted by Loki, the cook elf for the Potters. Giving the crazy elf their request for breakfast they sat in silence as they waited for their food. They were both thinking about what to say to the other. In Daphne's case how to apologize to Harry and explain herself. While Harry was thinking about whether or not to forgive her.

Harry supposed she did have some small right to be angry. He did invite Ginny without letting her know about it. He could understand how she could be mad about that. Harry however did think that she went a little too far. Ginny was nothing more than a friend to Harry, and not a very close one. He only got to know her last year when she stopped being so awkward around him.

Harry was mostly annoyed with her anger at Hermione. Sure, she was his best female friend but there was nothing between them either. She went through an ordeal last night needed somewhere to stay and still needed someplace permanent to stay. It was by total fluke that he learned of her situation when he went to pick up Williams. A healer recommended by Daphne. Harry briefly marveled at the coincidence that brought them all together last night.

The thoughts of the two teens was soon disrupted with the arrival of their food. Thanking Loki they started to eat in silence, lost to their own thoughts. It did not take them long to finish, eating something light considering the time and they were both a little eager to talk. Finishing their meal they departed the dining room. Daphne stared to head back to the library, but was interrupted by Harry.

"Let's not go to the library," he said. "I think we both need a break from that room for now. Besides there's a better room for such discussions." He smiled.

Daphne felt a little guilty at that admission and followed him to one of the smaller sitting rooms in a seldom seen part of the manor. Compared to the rest of the house it was modest in size. The floor was carpeted with soft material that was a deep rich green that tricked the eyes and looked almost black. In the middle of the wall across from the door, which seemed like a reoccurring theme with the manor, was a fireplace. There was already a fire burning in it, but it seemed small and week for such a grand fireplace as the two teens walked in.

The seating was simple. Consisting of only two armchairs which were a flat red leather. They were simple and clean with no unnecessary designs or styling. Between them was a minimalistic table with a small lamp. As Daphne looked around the room she noticed that the walls were also simple with a bright and calming wallpaper that complimented the color of the chairs and floor.

The room was sparse but felt open and airy. The only real decorations was some baubles and other odds and ends in the bookcases on either side of the fireplace. Above the mantle of the fireplace there was a small clock. It sat right in the middle of the mantle and was simple in design made from metal and glass. The metal looked to be bronze and was polished brightly. The face of the clock was white and clean with simple black hands and subtle markings.

"This room," Harry said being the first to enter the room, "is simply called the airing room. According to what history I've read on the manor," he explained. "Underneath the floor and behind the walls, there is a few calming enchantments, as well as minor truth compulsion wards." he continued. "Nothing that would make you spill your deepest secrets. Just enough for two conflicting members of House Potter to, let things... air out...so to speak." he smiled.

"It was created by my great, great something grandmother who had," he paused. "Difficult children. This room helped her learn why they were so rebellious, and has helped all kinds of inter-house disputes since. Maybe now it could help us?" he sounded hopeful.

While Harry was explaining the room, Daphne was exploring the room, looking at the various decorations and odds and ends. She had not explored much of the manor and doubted Harry had either. She was impressed by the wide and diverse collection of items. Most of which were Potter historical artifacts or relics from far lands"

The pair continued in silence for a moment, both sitting down in the armchairs as the clock chimed. After a moment...

"Do you want to go first?" Harry asked when the ringing of the clock stopped.

"Yes," she breathed deeply. "Harry," she said looking at him. "I want to apologize for last night. I over reacted, I admit. But..." she paused. "You and I have been together for less than a month, not even that. And there is already two girls staying here. Both whom you've known for much longer than me."

"I want this to work. Between us," she continued. "Even if our, no, your plans, go for the worse. I.. want to be there for that. By your side..." fiddling with her hands in her lap for a moment. "I'm just worried that you're already planning on this ending this, or…"

"You're right." Harry said after it was clear Daphne was done speaking. "You did overreact quite a bit." he stated. Daphne could just barely look at him when he said that. "I only really got to know Ginny last year. She's spent most of her time around me as an annoying fan girl. She's spent more time running from me, then talking with me." said Harry. "As for Hermione, she's my best friend. I love her like a sister, but nothing romantic could ever happen between us. There's nothing _to_ happen there."

"And I'm not planning on this ending either." He said. "But this is going to be something we need to work at..." Harry observed.

"You're right," she relented. "We've not really done anything together besides your lessons and plans. Have we?"

Harry smirked and chuckled inwardly. She was right of course, they amount of time they spent together doing anything other than working on Harry's plans or teaching him things, was very limited.

"Maybe we should go on... a date or something? Get out of the manor for a while?" Daphne asked looking and smiling at Harry for the first time that day.

Harry smiled back and nodded. A Date was a good start. "Sounds like a plan," he said getting up from the chair and starring into the fire. "Though I have no idea where we would go..." he added. "I've never really been anywhere besides Hogwarts or Diagon alley..."

Daphne smiled at him as she got up from her chair as well. "Why don't you let me handle that Harry." To which Harry nodded. "Though I supposed it will have to wait a while until we're sure Ginny will be ok alone and Hermione is in the right mind."

"Yeah," he agreed "That's probably a good idea. Even with Williams around," he said. "I guess it's a date then?" he smiled. "I'm going to the study to think a bit, talk again later? There's a few things about my plans I want to talk to you about." he asked to which Daphne nodded. Accepting her answer Harry turned to leave before Daphne grabbed his hand and lightly kissed him.

"I really am sorry Harry..." she said again.

Harry kissed her back and held her for a moment before replying. "Accepted," he said. "Though lets both try not to get upset, until there's something to get upset about."

She nodded before they both went their separate ways to think about where things were, and where they might be going. Meanwhile, the fireplace in the airing room, seem to burn a little brighter...

**-TNDL-**

After talking with Harry for a bit, Daphne began to wander the manor, lost in her thoughts. The small talk they had in the airing room was a start. The pair agreed that there was still much they need to discuss. Thinking about where and when they would go on a date as well as when Harry would meet her parents, she thought back on what brought her here.

The House of Greengrass only had two daughters. As the eldest it was her responsibility to marry into a respectable family and, hopefully, have two sons, one for her husband's family name, and one for hers to continue the name of Greengrass. If she failed it would be up to her sister Astoria. Something that was unlikely as she was betrothed to Draco Malfoy. The Malfoy's, typically only even had one child per generation unless the rare girl or twins was born into the line.

Her father, to her gratitude, left the decision to her. That was at least until he would lose his patience with her search. This gave Daphne the time she needed to not only find a match her parents would approve of, but more importantly, herself. This search led her to her first and only real choice. Harry Potter.

Daphne sighed as she remembered what had brought them together. Since then nothing was what she thought it would be. She discovered that Harry Potter was the heir to three of the four founders, and... More surprising was his new dark side. Something she found quite attractive. What's more is that he had a philosopher's stone. Something he was open with towards her, despite hardly knowing each other. She was surprised that at no point did he have her swear any oath or vow, though that may be due to the marriage contract Daphne mused. Even so he was being incredibly trusting.

The contract they had booth drafted together with the help of the goblins that day in Gringotts, was incredibly open ended. It forced them to be married for at least a year. When that year was up if both or either party felt it wasn't working then it could be easily ended. If it did work out then, nothing needed to change. The only thing that would complicate a breakup was if Daphne was pregnant or already had children. Something that Daphne had no interest in happening just yet.

'_Though I certainly wouldn't object,'_ she thought. _'but that's something for the future.'_

Daphne was surprised at how quickly Harry agreed to the arrangement. '_Perhaps he supposed he was getting the better end of the deal.'_ She was unsure. She had already begun teaching him some, but there was still much he needed to learn. However, the most recent happenings revealed to Daphne that there was also much she could learn from Harry. The first thing she realized that he could teach her was skill with a wand. Harry was as very skilled fighter, skill that would only increase with time. Those were skills she would need if she was to stand by him. The second thing was something she realized only a few moments ago.

'_Trust_.' She realized. Harry had placed unspoken amounts of trust into her. Accepting the contract in the first place was part. The second was the knowledge about the stone. Daphne was sure there was more but what trust had she shown him? To her shame none so far. She had placed so little trust with him, that with her anger at him last night she perhaps drove an irreversible wedge into their relationship. She didn't trust him with Hermione or Ginny when she should have. _'If I want to stay Daphne Potter, I'll have to start trusting him and them.'_

'_Daphne Potter'_ she smiled. She really hopped things would work out between them. It seemed Harry did as well since he realized that they hardly knew each other. Something they would have to fix if they were to remain together. A bond would need to be formed. Their lessons would also probably help bring them together in some way. She was looking forward towards their date, but she had no idea what they would talk about. All they really had in common at this point was his plans for the world. Something she was eager to participate in. _'Though we have nothing apparent in common that doesn't mean it can't be discovered or built'_.

Continuing to wander through the house Daphne came to Ginny's room. Knocking softly she entered to find Williams organizing various jars of potions and ingredients on a small work desk.

"Oh Hello, Daphne." he greeted upon seeing her. "I didn't expect you. How's my favorite snake?" he smiled.

Daphne ignored him for the moment and looked to Ginny who was still in a magical coma on the bed. "How is she," Daphne asked.

Looking to his patient, Williams frowned. "She stable, but I'm not sure how well she will recover yet. It's still touch and go at this point."

"I see," Daphne said softly looking at Ginny again. "How long do you think until she's awake?" looking back to Williams.

Williams thought for a few moments, rubbing his chin in contemplation. "She's healing up a bit quicker than I thought she would. I'd say she will be awake within a week. I wouldn't be surprised if she wakes up a little before then." He said with a smile. "The internal bleeding seems to have stopped but there is still the issue of the spine and other skeleton injuries."

Daphne nodded while her family's friend explained the situation. Most of the damage to her skeleton was already on the mend. Her spine was the real concern right now. Even with magic such injuries were delicate. Depending on the severity, the affected vertebrae needed to be vanished and regrown. A process that was intensely painful. The patient had to be suspended precisely in the air otherwise the bones could grow back wrong and cause even more agony or even more damage. Causing the entire process to be restarted.

"I've not started the repairs to her spine yet," he explained. "She's stable enough that it's not a threat to her life while I take care of the other injuries. Should make the damage to her spine easier to fix in the end."

"Why not do it now while she's unconscious?" Daphne asked. "I've heard that spine damage is quite painful to heal."

"It is," he said with a frown. "Some say it's even worse than the cruciatus curse. The pain is so great that it breaks sleeping potions and stunners. It's even rumored that the pain is so great it can break though the effects of the drought of living death. But such rumors have never been confirmed and I doubt it's possible."

Daphne was shocked. She had heard it was bad but not that bad. "Will she be… sane?" She asked. "When it's over? Harry had an arm regrown second year… is the process similar."

"Yes," Williams smiled at her concern. "She will be sane. The pain is extreme, but it doesn't overwhelm the nervous system like the cruciatus. The potions for such injuries are similar to Skele-Grow. But have to work abound the nerves in the spine which is what causes the pain."

Daphne couldn't help but look at the youngest Weasley and sincerely hope she would be ok. Sure, Daphne was still skeptical about her relationship to Harry. Thinking about what Harry said, she really had no reason to suspect anything though.

"This isn't really about Ginny though, is it?" Williams asked disrupting Daphne's thoughts. Daphne shook her head. "What, trouble in paradise?" he joked.

"Something like that." She sighed.

Looking at her intently Williams suggested that she sit down and they talk while he checked up on Ginny and brewed some more potions. Daphne agreed and picked a seat along the wall by the bed, opposite of the window. The sunlight shining brightly upon her while Williams cast various spells on Ginny while attending to his potions.

"So, what's going on little snake?" Asked Williams sincerely.

"I think I may have caused a rift between Harry and me." She said. At Williams look she continued. "I over reacted to Ginny and Hermione being here…" she explained.

"Ahh," Williams said knowingly. "You thought he might have feelings for one or both of them. And having known them longer than you, you're worried that he may plan on breaking up, or take a mistress. Does that about sum it up?"

Daphne frowned and glared at Williams. "Hit it on the nose did I?" he smiled. "Daphne, both of you are very young. In a relationship you both rushed into. Both of you are going to have to put some effort into it."

"I'm learning that," she said. "But with our… fight… I worry I may have sabotaged everything I've been working for."

"Everything you're working for?" he asked. "Or what you're both working for?"

"I…" Daphne sighed. "Both I guess. I've realized that he's shown me so much trust and I've not shown him any in return."

"Good." Williams said. "That means you're on the right track to fix things. Real relationships take time Little Snake. You can't just sign a piece of paper and expect things to work out." He explained while making a few potions. "The fact that you know what's wrong, and why, shows you're on the right track to fixing things. And from a stronger relationship because of it."

"Thanks." Daphne said softly.

"One question though," he said. "Do you want it to work? Or did you marry him to appease yourself and you're father."

"Yes," She said with conviction. "I can't say anything really, but more is going on than I thought would be. I want to be part of it with him." She smiled before getting up and moving to the door.

"Thank you Williams," Daphne said with a smile before leaving the room. "You always have the best advice."

Williams merely smiled in return before resuming the potions he was brewing. Potions that were essential to Ginny's recovery. "Daphne, before you go, could you ask Harry if he has a potions lab I could use? And if he could part with any ingredients? I'm afraid I wasn't able to bring all of the things I require…"

"I'll ask him, I've never visited the lab but I'm sure there is one around here somewhere." Said Daphne, "Not sure if he has any ingredients though… Harry's a bit rubbish at potions."

"Thanks," He replied before Daphne finally left the room.

**-TNDL-**

Hermione was still deeply in shock. However, she was starting to come around. The first part of her mind to start whirring were thoughts of revenge. She started to make mental lists and notes of all the spells that might be useful as well as things she would need on her quest for vengeance. She was sure her parents would disapprove being such nice people… _'Were'_ she reminded herself reinforcing her need for revenge. A small smile turned her lips as she thought about using some of the dark curses she read about on Snape and others of his kind.

One of her favorites was referred to as the _'Artic Bones Curse'_. It transfigures the bones of whatever target it hit. Depending on the casters thoughts at the time it would turn them into ice or more of a semi frozen slush. _'His bones should be as cold as his heart.'_ Hermione thought spitefully as she remembered that the spell could create ice with temperatures well below zero.

The transfiguration was not the painful part though. If the thoughts were right, the spell resulted in internal frostbite. Often time it was untreatable and required amputation if on a limb. If it hit the chest though, it almost always resulted in death. It also chilled the blood causing the entire body to chill resulting in hypothermia and other problems. Frozen limbs and body parts affected could be broken then with little effort.

On the other end however, if the bones were transfigured to be more liquid then ice, the entire body could be moved and twisted in ways that it was never intended to. Your fingers could be pulled back to sit on the back of your hand, your legs and arms wrung like towels. If most of the bones forming the ribcage were affected then breathing would become labored and eventually impossible. As the body lost what kept it rigid it would begin to flatten and compress on itself.

Another favorite of hers, which she intended to use on Snape when she got her hands on him. Was called _'The Pain of Family' curse_. It was created during the 1500s by a grieving wizard. His family and village, was slaughtered by a group of dark wizards. He himself was critically injured. After recovering he developed the spell so those dark wizards knew just how much he hurt. It had one drawback however. The spell formed a connection between caster and victim. If the victim felt any pain of loss themselves, it would feedback to the caster as well.

'_I doubt that bastard has cared about anyone to mourn their loss.' _She thought. As she began to think about other curses, she was pulled from her thoughts by a knock on the door.

"Come in Harry," Said Hermione quietly, but loud enough to be heard. Hermione was sitting on the bed again looking out the window to the grounds. The only person she had seen so far was Harry she had not expected anybody else to enter her room. So she was surprised when she saw a feminine form open the door, and shocked when she saw it was Daphne Greengrass.

_Of Slytherin House…_

_Slytherin…_

…_Snape_

Hermione jumped from the bed and grabbed her wand, ready to cast it at her classmate. She eyed Greengrass warily as she entered further into the room. Her wand began the swish of a powerful blasting curse but was interrupted before she could utter the first syllable…

"Easy Hermione," Daphne smiled softly holding her hand up in mock surrender. "Remember whose house you're in. I don't think Harry would approve of you hurting me, or damaging our house."

"_Your_ house?" Hermione said with narrowed eyes, carefully watching the blonde Slytherin before her. "What have you done to Harry?" she spat.

"Done to," Daphne smiled. "I've done nothing to him. You could say we've done each other." She said suggestively. She hoped it would give her an opening to calm the muggleborn witch.

Hermione blushed after a moment catching the blonde's words. She stuttered for a moment never expecting the pureblood witch to be so suggestive or crude.

"Tell me Hermione, for someone who studies as much as you, I'm sure you're familiar with house rings?' Said Daphne as she held out her left hand. The ring of Lady Potter shining brightly upon it.

The eyes of the muggleborn witch budged when she saw the House Lady's ring. "But that…that means…"

"Yes it does." Daphne smiled. "Relax though, I won't make you call me Lady Potter, Daphne is just fine. As long as I can call you Hermione?" She said holding out her hand. "Friends?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well? A little cliffy there. For now, the next chapter resumes where this one left off. Will probably have a few meetings and some minor time skips and maybe more on our friend Nick. **

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I look forward to getting more out but we'll see with other stuff going on.**


	14. Penumbra

**Harry Potter, The New Dark Lord**

**A/N: A wild update appears! Sorry for the delay. I've actually had this chapter down for a while but because of a promotion at work I've not had the same time to write or edit as I had before. This means that the next chapter may also take a while to be released. I'll see what I can do, but no promises. Especially since the writing bug hasn't bit in a while :P**

**As usually I've done my best to check for errors and such, but I can't guarantee anything.**

**I'd also like to thank those who have stuck with my uber slow update schedule and those who have left positive feedback.**

**-Thanks!**

**Chapter 14: Penumbra**

_Penumbra- The partially shaded outer region of a shadow…_

Daphne held her hand out to Hermione. The muggleborn witch stared defiantly thinking over the situation. She knew Harry was around here somewhere. He was the one who brought her here after all. She had seen him less than a day ago. The fact that the ring of Lady Potter sat on Daphne's hand was undisputable. She was Lady Potter, and judging by the opulent grounds outside of her window, and the Potter Crests, this _was_ Potter manor.

One thing was throwing her off however. Since when did Harry know the young witch enough to marry her? Even as one of Harry's closest friends she admitted that she didn't know everything about him. She was sure however that the pair never interacted at school. The closest they got was the potions class at Hogwarts. Even with the house rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin, they were in different circles.

"How did _you_ become Lady Potter of all people?" Hermione asked probingly.

"I asked." Daphne smiled.

"You just asked?" Hermione said incredulously. "And he just what, said yes?" keeping her wand pointed at the blond pureblood.

"Yes, more or less." Said Daphne starting to walk around the bed to face Hermione directly. "All it required was an offer to teach him a few things." She said simply. "What's more is our magic even approves. It flared during our initial meeting." Daphne continued to explain. "I'm sure someone as knowledgeable as you know what that means."

Hermione scoffed. "Teach him what?" she growled ignoring Daphne's reference to magical bonds.

"The culture and traditions of our world," said Daphne simply. "To someone who should have known them long ago."

"I could have taught him," said Hermione.

"I'm sure you could have," said Daphne. "But did he ever ask? Did you even offer? Besides. Knowledge will only take you so far Granger. You need _experience. "_

"No." Hermione conceded, lowering her wand slightly. Harry never asked for anything from her. Nothing really important anyway. And while she was in a position to help him learn about such things. She never offered to help or even show him.

"Which is why I offered." Daphne smiled. "Somebody needed to step up and teach him. His family is one of the oldest and most respected in England. He needed to know. If it helps he suggested to make it open. If things don't work out after a year. We're free to split." That bit was actually Daphne's idea. But Granger didn't know that…

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Hermione asked still skeptical.

"You don't, for now." Daphne replied. "Harry is busy with something right now. I'm sure the three of us could talk later."

"I still don't trust you."

"I don't blame you," Daphne replied. "I would be upset if you did. But being Harry's friend I bet we'll soon be great friends." She said holding out her hand again now facing Hermione.

Hermione continued to stare at the blond. She didn't know what to think. So much was happening so quickly. Between the deaths of her parents and now finding out that her best friend was married. Hermione didn't take her second offer either.

"I think I'll wait if you don't mind." Hermione said. "Until I find out what's going on from Harry himself."

Daphne retracted her hand with grace. "Very well." She smiled. "Under the circumstances I don't blame you. I just wanted to see how you were fairing"

Daphne turned from the other witch and looked out the tall window to the grounds outside. The view, though limited, was quite grand. She was able to see a large portion of the well-manicured lawn and gardens before the start of the forest that surrounded most of the manor.

Turning around Daphne took in the details of the room. The bed looked like it had hardly been slept in. The blankets had been folded back showing that someone had gotten into the bed but there were no other signs that someone slept in it. It was as if the person sleeping in it was an inferi or zombie. Getting in and out while not disturbing the area around them.

The dresser across from the bed had stacks of stuff on and around it. Presumably from Hermione's old home. Most of it was clothes or personal effects. There was also more than a few books. Daphne moved closer to look at Hermione's reading habits under a scrutinizing glare from said witch. Most of the books were Hogwarts related with a few extras thrown in. There were however three that Daphne took note of… _'An introduction to the dark arts: 200 dark spells and their origins', 'The Modern Dark Arts', _and _'Darkness in the Light: Deadly Uses for Normal Spells'_.

Smiling to herself Daphne turned to leave the room and the untouched items. Hermione still glaring at her. Though her wand arm at least feel to her side. Opening the Door again Daphne looked back at Hermione. "You should probably eat something Granger." She said. "You can't plot revenge on an empty stomach now, can you? If you need anything call for Mindy. I'm sure she or another elf can help you." After a moment she added. "Or, if you just want to talk, feel free to find Harry. Or myself." She finished with the clock of the door closing behind her.

Walking away Daphne said, "Well that went well." She smiled.

**-TNDL-**

The next morning Harry woke up in a proper bed. He was naked with an equally naked Daphne. She was laying on her chest curled into Harry's left side. The warmth of her body against his. Harry could feel every bit of her skin. He felt her soft, firm chest against him. Her left arm draped across him, holding him close. Her right hand was up resting on his left shoulder. Harry could feel the rise and fall of her chest with her gentle breathing.

"Morning my Dark queen." Said Harry running his hand across her soft back. Daphne picked up her head and looked at him. The remnants of sleep still visible.

"Good morning," she said sleepily. "I like that by the way." She smiled.

"I love your back too." he smiled as Daphne laughed.

"Not what I was talking about." She smiled. "But what you're doing does feels nice." She mewed leaning up and capturing his lips in a kiss. "I was talking about being your Dark Queen. My Dark King."

Harry smiled as she pulled away and sat up looking at him supported by her arm, her blond hair tickling as she pulled away. He took a moment to admire her beauty in the morning light and smiled up at her. He liked what she called him too. _'King... Maybe one Day'_ he thought. "I suppose I do need to come up with a moniker for myself and my followers." He said thoughtfully.

Daphne looked down at him and threw her legs over him straddling him her hands on his chest. "How about 'Tall Dark and Lordly' or maybe 'The Dark Stud' might work?" She smiled. Harry snorted.

"That doesn't exactly inspire fear or intimidation." He drawled. "Not to mention leadership to nothing about anything else."

Daphne leaned down and planted kisses down his chest. "Well, maybe I could call you that then?" she said between kisses as Harry moaned.

"Daphne, stop." He said smiling as he leaned up holding her close as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "We should get ready for the day."

"Fine," Daphne mock sighed.

Crawling out of bed the two teens made their way to the closet after showering. They dressed somewhat casually not expecting to go or meet anyone today. After they had finished dressing they made their way to the casual dining room together as seemed to be the routine. As they did they held hands. Harry couldn't help think about how odd their relationship was.

Sure, they were both teenagers. But Harry didn't think that was it. He wasn't uneasy about it. On the contrary, he actually felt really comfortable around Daphne. Even though they knew each other very little for such a sort amount of time, Harry felt they were as close as two people could be. As he thought back to when they first met he remembered their auras and thought magic might be at work bringing them closer.

After a few moments of silence Daphne spoke up, "I saw Hermione last night. And Ginny."

"Oh?" Harry was surprised. "What made you do that?"

"Well, if we're going to be together." She said. "I may as well get to know your friends."

"I see. And how are they?" Harry asked curious of Daphne's thoughts.

"Ginny is really bad. Though I have a feeling that she will make strong recovery soon." She said. "Hermione was a little threatened by me. She wants to see you by the way. Doesn't believe we're married." She smiled.

"She does now." Said Hermione from the dining room where they just arrived. "Next time you two might want to put of a few silencing spells." She said calmly sipping some tea.

"Hmm," said Williams in agreement. "Thank Merlin for self-memory charms."

The two teens blushed as they took their usual seats at the table. The party of four ate mostly in silence. "Hermione," said Daphne. "we did put up silencing spells"

Hermione snorted, "You could have fooled me." She said. "Either the spell was shoddy or the two of you…" She said looking at them "…are louder then what the spell can block. Congratulations by the way."

There was a sudden clang of metal dropping against a plate. Looking up the three teens saw Williams drop silverware against his plate. While using his napkin to wipe his face as graceful as possible he got up from the table. He walked around the table and out the door. "If you don't mind I really don't want to be a part of this conversation. And I do believe I have a patient to look after."

When he was gone after a few moments Hermione started to speak again. "Now that he's gone we can talk."

"Bringing out your Slytherin side Granger?" Daphne said smiling.

Hermione smiled it return and held out her hand to the pureblood which, who was on her right. "My friends call me Hermione." Daphne smiled and took her hand as the brown haired witched leaned closer to the blond. "I can't deny that you two are together." Hermione started, "The Harry I know would do _that_ with just anybody. But if you hurt him, or betray him, I will hunt you down." She breathed into Daphne's ear.

"I expect _nothing_ less." Daphne whispered back. "But I don't think you have anything to worry about."

"I hope not," Hermione replied as they pulled apart smiling.

"Um… what was that about?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Girl talk," they both said almost simultaneously.

"Right," said Harry. "It looked more like you were about to kill each other."

"Nothing to worry about Harry," Daphne said sweetly.

"I was just getting to know your wife a little." Said Hermione. "It would be nice to know that my best friend was married." She said sarcastically.

"Yes…well. It happened quite suddenly." Harry said. "Shortly after the reading of the will." He explained.

"_Hmph_… that was fast." Hermione said. "How long have you known each other?"

"A few weeks." Daphne said with a smile looking at Harry who smiled back. "According to magic, we're _very_ compatible."

"What does that even mean," said Hermione looking at the couple. She never heard of magic just creating relationships between people. She was aware of magic bonds that could form between two people but there as not a case of such bonds in quite some time.

"When we kissed before we signed the contract" Harry explained. "Our auras flared and merged."

Hermione stared at Harry not believing what he was saying. During her first year Hermione wanted to know if knowing more would make her a stronger witch. She was curious. Were spells always the same strength no matter who cast them? Making superior knowledge the deciding factor. Or, did witches and wizards have a different natural strength level. Downgrading knowledge from a deciding factor to a sharp edge.

During her research she discovered that witches and wizards could have different levels in strength. Unfortunately, the only test to evaluate strength was in the hands of the goblins and was very expensive. For whatever reason tests that the wizards developed themselves never worked correctly. One thing that she was able to discover was that wizards and witches sometimes produced an aura. A swirling pattern of light around the witch or wizard in question.

Auras were no way of discovering how powerful a certain witch or wizard was. Some of the strongest wizards never produced an aura. While some of the weakest produced them frequently. They varied in size and color seemingly at random. Some had attempted to discover what the colors meant. While others tried to prove that a larger aura equaled a stronger wizard. Some even thought that it was the light of the soul.

What the research showed consistently was that there was a strong emotional component to the color and production of an aura. There was another odd observation about them. In very rare cases, when a witch and a wizard shared a form of strong emotional contact or a connection between their very magic. Their auras could flare up. Regardless if they produced one before or not. When this happened they would swirl together and merge. Creating a strong bond between the two. The more the auras merged and combined, the more 'compatible' they were and the stronger their bond.

The strongest and rarest result of merged auras, was the soul bond. Those who were able to share such a bond were incredibly rare. So rare that there was less than 10 recorded bonds _ever_. Those who shared such connections, complete soul bonds or merely merged auras, did not necessarily need to be in a romantic relationship to form the connection. All it seemed that was required was some form of physical contact and a strong emotional component. Magic took care of the rest.

"The two of you…" Hermione said. "Don't have a soul bond… do you?"

"No," said Daphne. "

"Not sure how much though, we were too busy enjoying the moment." Harry said. "Anyway Hermione, How are you doing?" he asked softly.

A dark look appeared on Hermione's face. Her demeanor suddenly became very cold. "I need your help Harry. I _will,_ kill Snape." She said with venom. "However, I realize that I need training, help me, or don't. But don't get in my way."

Harry and Daphne smirked discreetly to each other. "We have no intention of stopping you Hermione. I've changed Hermione," Harry explained. "I've discovered the origins of my family. And have embraced it. And the world will tremble before me. Will you join us Hermione?"

"As long as Snape is mine," She said, "then I'm in."

The teens were disturbed from discussing it more when Mindy arrived caring a large brass stand for waiting owls. There was two perched across it with Mindy carrying the package of a presumable fourth. "Sorry in interrupt Master and Mistress," said Mindy. "These two will only deliver directly to the recipient." The elf said as she placed the stand down near the window. Walking over to Harry she handed him the package in her arms. "The paper master."

"Thank you Mindy, you may go," Harry said as Mindy disappeared. He was a little surprised that Hermione didn't pay the elf any notice. Or even complain that he had an elf. Looking at the front page of the _Daily Prophet_ Harry found news about last night's attacks. While Harry was reading the paper Daphne took one of the other letters.

_**The Daily Prophet**_

_**The Death Eaters Attack!**_

_**By: Sam Ax**_

_Death Eaters have attacked the homes of several well-known family's last night. The list of those attacked includes Bones Manor, Longbottom Manor, The Weasley's at the Burrow, and a muggle family, the Grangers._

_You-Know-Who himself was reported to have attacked Bones Manor with several followers. During the attack Amelia Bones (Age 43) was killed. Her niece Susan Bones survived the attack was able to confirm that You-Know-Who, Lucius Malfoy, and Walden McNair took part in the attack. Susan Bones, Heiress to House Bones, is reported as unharmed and currently in a safe location pending further investigation._

_It is unclear how Lucius Malfoy, who claimed to be under the Imperius curse during You-Know-Who's first reign of terror, escaped Ministry custody. Mr. Malfoy was captured during the Battle at the department of Mysteries on June 18__th__ of this year. He was captured with other known death eaters. According to sources in the DMLE, Lucius was released due to key evidence either disappearing or becoming compromised._

_The attack on Longbottom Manor reported by Aurors responding to the scene was incredibly violent. Augusta Longbottom was killed during the raid. Neville Longbottom, heir to House Longbottom, survived. However his situation is most dire. Exact details of what happened as well as who attack is unknown. Reports suggest Aurors on the scene have undergone willful obviation of the event after storing memories as evidence. _

_Mr. Longbottom, is currently in St Mungo's recovering from the use of the cruciatus and Imperius upon him. Attending healers report that when Mr. Longbottom arrived he was covered from head to toe with blood and in deep shock. He is currently catatonic and unresponsive. Healers are preparing to move him to the Long Term Spell Damage Ward._

_The Death Eaters attacked The Weasley home early during the night. They attacked with numbers. Albus Dumbledore and others responded quickly to the attack and the dark forces were forced to retreat. Early in the attack however, it is reported that Ginny Weasley was taken by a death eater. It's unknown where she is currently located. Those on the scene believe that the attack was done by new recruits of the You-Know-Who's forces. The family wishes the speedy recovery of their daughter and is seeking any information. Any tips should be reported to the auror office. _

_The final attack of the night was on the home of Hermione Granger. Aurors responded to the use of dark curses being used at the scene. It was initially believed the young muggleborn witch had snapped at the pressure of her O.W.L.'s. Many of those of Muggle decent have done so in the past. However, when aurors arrived at the scene the home was partially destroyed and two death eaters were found in the home. Bellatrix Lestrange and_ _Antonin Dolohov were found unconscious and severally injured. Two muggle bodies were also recovered, presumed to be the parents of Hermione Granger. Both had undergone visible signs of torture. _

_The purpose of these attacks is not clear. Other than the Bones, the victims are all close friends of Harry Potter. Mr. Potter is rumored to have been involved in the Battle at the Ministry for Magic past June. After the battle several death eaters were captured. It is also rumored that during the battle mass murder Sirius Black was killed. Exact details of the event have not been released to the public and all files of it in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement have been sealed._

_Were these attacks revenge for the loss of one of You-Know-Who's greatest supporters? Or was there another motivation behind them? Amelia Bones was the Head of the DMLE. A positon that is said to be the gateway to becoming Minister for Magic. Did these attacks serve as distraction for dark plants into our beloved ministry?_

_Only time will tell, in the meantime our best wishes are with those who have suffered during these dark times._

_For more about the Battle at the Ministry, turn to page 7_

_For more about Harry Potter, The Chosen one? Turn to page 13_

_For information about new potential Directors to the DMLE, turn to page 17_

When Harry finished reading the cover story he turned his attention to the other letter. It was from a very bland looking owl. It looked like it was barely looked after. Though better than the Weasels owl. Taking the letter from its talons Harry saw that it had a letter from the ministry. Seeing that it was addressed to Hermione he passed it to her. Turning to the last of the three owls, Harry took the letter from the noble looking bird. He was surprised to see it was from Draco Malfoy.

_Lord Potter-Black_

_I would like to speak to you as soon as possible. I wish to discuss the details of the offer left to my mother and I during the will reading of the late Sirius Black. I hope we can arrive to an agreement._

_-Draco Malfoy._

"Well, that was surprising." Harry said. "Anything interesting Daphne?"

"My father would like to meet you," she smiled. "He would like to know when we're available for a meeting with the family. What about your letter?"

"He wishes to discuss the will reading," Harry said evenly.

"We should probably meet with him before my parents." Said Daphne. "My father will not like drama at a family gathering."

"I wonder what he decided," Harry said thoughtfully.

Daphne looked at him with a small smile. "Draco is not dumb Harry. Regardless of how be behaves at school. I imagine it would be your benefit, you are almost brothers." She smirked.

Hermione watched on during the discussion intrigued, looking up occasionally while reading the paper after Harry had finished and reading her letter. "Excuse me?" she all but yelled. "What do you mean they're almost brothers?"

"My sister," Daphne said to Hermione, "is betrothed to Draco. He's my brother in law."

After discussing how Draco was almost Harry's brother now. Hermione informed her hosts that a hearing into where she would be placed was scheduled for two weeks from today. Harry assured her that she had nothing to worry about. After discussing it with Daphne, they would do their best to make sure she stayed with them. Being a Lord in Harry's case would certainly help but there was still the problem of his age. Something he was sure that would be able to get overlooked.

If that didn't work Harry had been practicing his mind arts. He was sure he would be able to easily 'persuade' the courts to rule in his favor. Daphne was not thrilled with the idea but decided to show Harry some trust and accept the muggleborn witch. Something she would have to do anyway as she was one of Harry's closest friends.

**-TNDL-**

The rest of the day was spent with the three teens getting to known each other more. Harry explained everything that had been going on to Hermione. He included details about the history of his family. He also explained about some of this magical ability's and natural talents.

"We should get both of you tested for any abilities as well." Harry said looking at Hermione and Daphne in the library. "Hermione. We should also get you a tailored wand as well."

"A new wand for the new me," Hermione sighed. "So Harry, as heir to the founders do you plan on returning to school." She asked looking up from the book she was reading with a small pile next to her.

Daphne looked at Harry after Hermione asked her question. They had not talked about it yet but there was a few different options open to them. As Harry was now a lord and Daphne as his wife, were free to do as they want. Having taken their owls they didn't need to return to Hogwarts.

"I'm not sure," Harry said slowly. "We don't need too. However, there's still the issue of your custody Hermione. So when that's decided we'll have a better idea of what we're working with." He explained. "I think it might be wise to return though. To keep our enemy's close where we can get to them."

"That's probably not a bad idea," Daphne spoke up. "But that same closeness that lets us get to them. Also lets them get to us. However, remaining in Hogwarts puts us in a position to recruit others to our cause."

"We don't necessarily have to return as students Daphne." Harry said thinking about their options. "As heir to the legacy of three of the founders I'm sure I could dismantle the board of governors and direct Hogwarts myself. Would be able to control Dumbledore somewhat then. We could also live there."

"We have plenty of time to make a decision." Said Daphne. She didn't favor one option above any others. Though she was probably leaning more towards attending as a student. If they were to go off and teach themselves there was potential that they would miss some spell theory or understanding. Something that may be needed later in their lives. There was much more to consider as well. Things she would bring up with Harry when they discussed it later.

"When are we going to go after Snape," Hermione growled from her side of the library.

Harry looked at her and frowned. He knew she was eager to deal with him but she was not ready. "It may not be for a while." Said Harry. "As much as I hate to say it, Snape is a powerful wizard. Taking him out will require skill and planning."

Hermione was prepared to argue with him but it died on her lips. He was right of course. It would do no good to go after him, before she was ready. Something she already knew "How do you propose we acquire _skill_?" she asked. "We can't exactly go around fighting people."

After thinking about it for a few moments Daphne had an idea. "How large is the Hogwarts property exactly?" she asked Harry.

"Very large," he said. "There's the castle of course, then there's also the forest which is quite vast."

"Would you be able to build something in the forest somewhere?" she then asked.

"Like what," Harry asked curiously.

"Maybe a few buildings in a warded off section." She said. "Include bits of the forest as well. Then, using your ownership of Azkaban we take some of the more tame prisoners and leave them in the warded section that only we, or those we allow, to enter and… practice. As we gain experience we relocate more dangerous people to the 'preserve'"

"I like the idea," said Harry thinking it over. Such a construction would be expensive and would take some time. Something else they would have to include was smaller cells for those they were not 'hunting'. There was also one problem. The Dark Mark. If they used any death eaters within the preserve they could summon their master through the mark. They would then have to ward against such magic, or remove the mark. "At some point though we would need actual death eaters to practice against. When we do, we would need a way to ward against the dark mark."

"I was thinking the goblins could build it." Daphne said. "They could use some of the same protections that Gringotts uses."

Harry quickly agreed and the rest of the day passed normally for the trio. Well, as normal to an aspiring Dark Lord as possible. Harry submerged himself in the library learning more magic's. He also spent some time outside honing in his new skills. Also joining him was Daphne and Hermione. He was teaching Daphne many of his favorite spells and dark curses. While Hermione was working on actually using the dark arts. Something she was actually not having a problem with.

Also during the day Ginny had woken up very briefly. She was on so many potions and still in much pain though. She tried to speak but it all came out as gibberish. Harry was happy that she was making a recovery. They would soon find out what exactly happened at the Burrow that caused her to plummet to the ground with a death eater. Though after the article in the paper Harry had some idea about what had happened.

**-TNDL-**

The next day Harry and Daphne woke up in bed together again. While they did not indulge their passions as they did the night before they were still close. Showing and getting dressed for the day the two started their morning routine. Eating a quiet breakfast they went in search for Hermione. To neither of their surprise she was in the library. She confessed that she had been up for some time, having already eaten a meal prepared by Loki, she resumed to teach herself all manner of things.

"Are you ready for your tests," Harry smirked as they prepared to leave.

"Yes," Hermione said confidently. "I was feeling a little underprepared so I revised my ABC's"

Daphne snorted and smiled, "I'm sure you did Hermione." She said as she laughed. Hermione smiled back at the blonde witch as they exited the manor. Hermione paused and took in the world. It felt like years since she was outside. It was almost like she had been reborn. She smiled as she took in the air. She smirked as she looked forward to what they day may bring.

Catching up to Harry and Daphne she took hold of the familiar port key Harry and created. Grabbing hold they disappeared only to reappear miles away in an alley that was near the Leaky Cauldron. Looking around the trio made their way to the dingy pub. As they walked Daphne took a position to Harry's right and Hermione followed in step behind. They passed quickly through the pub and into Diagon Alley. They did not pay any attention to Tom the barman or any of his patrons.

With long but collected strides they made their way to Gringotts. Opening the door they stepped inside and up to one of the tellers. "Greetings Bloodtoe," Harry said taking note of the name tag at the station. "My companions wish to partake in your bloodlines and ability's test."

The goblin did not look away from his work on the desk. "You are aware such tests are very expensive young wizard." The goblin replied taking note of how young the wizard sounded.

Harry frowned slightly expecting the goblin to show a little more interest. "Yes well," he said. "As _Lord_ Potter. I'm sure I can afford such things."

Slightly startled the goblin looked up. "Forgive me Lord Potter," Bloodtoe said evenly, "I did not recognize you. If you will follow me I will take your friends to the testing chamber." Stepping down from the teller's station Bloodtoe led them down the halls of Gringotts. They stopped briefly by a small office to deposit Harry while Bloodtoe took Hermione and Daphne to the testing chambers.

"Do you perform such tests often," Hermione asked as they were led to the room with the giant typewriter which gave the results.

"No," Bloodtoe said simply.

"How often…" Hermione started.

Bloodtoe growled, "Gringotts only releases the individual results to the respective clients. Information about the test itself," he drawled. Which for a goblin was quite freaky. "Or the number or administered tests is the property of Gringotts."

Hermione moved to ask more but Daphne grabbed her shoulder and shook her head. Hermione stopped asking questions for the moment while Daphne deposited her blood into the tank. When that was finished the goblin took Hermione to another test chamber across from the one Harry had used previously. This one however looked like it had not been used in some time.

There was a thick layer of dust all over the room. Even thicker cob webs hung around the walls and over the machine. The tanks of liquid at the top of the machine were empty and bone dry. Not for long however as a team of goblins soon entered the room from the catwalks carrying several containers. Opening them they soon filled the machine and got it running.

Hermione and Daphne exited the room where their respective tests were being performed. They were soon led back to the room Harry was waiting in. Daphne took a seat on Harry's left. While Hermione took one a couple of spaces to his right. Hermione crossed her arms as she sat down.

"Master Bloodtoe," Harry said before the goblin left. "Would it be possible to meet with someone to discuss building something on the Hogwarts property?"

"I shall summon a goblin from the properties department." Bloodtoe dismissed Harry before leaving.

Harry snorted, "Well he's not very pleasant."

"Most Goblins aren't," Daphne chuckled.

The trio did not have to wait long for the results. The goblins did their best to work fast, after all, time was money. The results were brought to them by a Goblin from the inheritance departments to explain their results. The goblin introduced himself as Goldrop. He passed a folder to both Hermione and Daphne.

_Daphne Potter Nee Greengrass_

_Age: 16_

_Date of Birth: 7 January 1980_

_Claimable Vaults and Headships:_

_Louis – claimable vault only_

_McNight- claimable vault only_

_Abilities:_

_Potential Animagus_

_Mind arts affinity- occlumency gifted, legilimency challenged._

_Charms gifted_

_Natural potions mistress_

_Magical core- Class 8 or greater._

_Class 4a and m1 magical bonds detected._

_**-TNDL-**_

_Hermione Jean Granger_

_Age: 16_

_Date of Birth: 19 September 1979_

_Claimable Vaults and Headships:_

_Abarth- Vault only_

_Abilities:_

_Mind arts affinity –illusions, legilimency gifted. Occlumency challenged_

_Practical memory_

_Transfiguration gifted_

_Magical core- Class 8 or greater_

_Class 3d magical debt detected._

_**-TNDL-**_

"Excuse me," said Daphne looking up from her results. "What does 'challenged' mean after a result? As well as these bonds listed."

"Challenged, Mrs. Potter means that that area of magic is difficult or near impossible for you to fully master." Goldrop explained. "A class 4a bond, is an aura bond. I believe it occurred when you and Mr. Potter signed a marriage contract. As for the m1 bond, that's the marriage contract itself."

"What about a 3d debt?" Hermione asked.

"A minor life debt," Goldrop answered. "Most life debts are not enforceable now days." he mused.

"But to who?" Hermione asked.

The goblin gave a full, toothy, grin. "That, miss Granger," he said. "Is something that only you may answer."

"How accurate are these tests in time?" Daphne asked. "I know this says I'm charms gifted. And while I do enjoy the subject, I'm also quite good at transfiguration."

Goldrop looked at Daphne for a few moments while deciding how to answer her question. "These tests are as accurate as possible. At the time of testing. The number or retests is quite low." He said. "Those who have done so at a more mature age usually find that their magic has matured as well and is better developed and open to more magic."

Goldrop continued to explain that this test was primarily intended to find lost heirs to vault left without a will to designate a new heir. Or those that were lost to squibs. The ability of the test to show what each witch and wizards magic was adept at was merely a bonus. It was not meant to carve their skills in stone. With age, knowledge, and control the results could vary dramatically. The only things that would not change were those ability's that were 'natural gifts.

They did not have much else to ask of Goldrop before a goblin of the zoning department arrived. The goblin was sharply dressed in a fine suit. He carried with him a brief case as well as several rolls of parchment. Goldrop left as the new goblin placed the items he brought with him on the table before them.

"Greetings young masters, I am called Yellowsnow." He said introducing himself. "I understand that you wish to build an addition to Hogwarts?"

"Not an addition exactly." Said Harry as Yellowsnow pulled out a map of the Hogwarts property. The property was massive. The actual castle took up about 30 acres. That did not include the quidditch pitch, the lake, or the forest. Those took up an additional 3200 acres. In total the Hogwarts property took up a little less than 5 square miles / 12 square kilometers.

"What did you have in mind then?" Yellowsnow asked.

Harry stood up and looked down at the map of Hogwarts. The map was magical and with a few taps along certain symbols what the map showed could be changed. It could show the density of the forest, along with heights of the trees in a particular area. It could also show underground water deposits, creature settlements, plant life, ground material, cave systems, and more.

Harry taped a few of the symbols. The map changed to show forest density and creature population centers. Harry compared the forest density to locations of the centaurs and the Acromantula.

"Here," Harry said tapping a location deep in the Forrest near the edge of the wards. "I would like to build a small village here."

"A village?" Yellowsnow asked. "But Hogsmege is so close…"

Daphne stood up and looked at the map as well. "Not a typical village Master Yellowsnow." She said. "It needs to be built discreetly and afforded all manner of protections."

Harry continued, "Basically, only myself and those I allow will know of it and its location."

"Further, it would be ideal for it to be built like a bunker." Said Daphne. "The town should be recessed in to the ground with a 50 foot wall around it that also forms a dome over the entire village."

"The dome, wall, and grounds around should be protected against tunneling and spell damage." Harry said.

Daphne tapped the map showing cave systems around the area. She took note of one that ran deep into the earth near the site. "This cave system should also be developed into a dungeon type area. It should also have the same protections as the village."

"How large should this village be?" Yellowsnow asked curiously.

Harry and Daphne looked to each other thinking the same question. Finally it was Harry who answered, "It doesn't need to be too large. Maybe around 20 buildings or so? In the end it should be a fully functional town. Complete with homes, shops, and flats."

"I see… you realize that this will be _very_ expensive." Yellow snow said.

"I do," Harry said "Even more considering that it must be finished by early August."

Yellowsnow's eyes widened as he dropped the papers he was packing up. "Au...august." he stuttered. "That will be nearly impossible!"

"I'm willing to pay a considerable bonus to get it finished on time, with whatever resources you need." Harry replied.

"V... very well…" the goblin whispered. "I will owl you when we have a draft of the blueprints."

"I wish to stress master Yellow snow," said Daphne, "the importance of this project. It must be impenetrable, escape proof, and impossible to find to those not in the know. I'm afraid that extends to goblins as well."

"That may be a deal breaker," said the goblin. "Though I will see what I can do."

Harry nodded and the party left Gringotts. Walking down the alley the trio made their way to the entrance of Knockturn Alley. As they did Harry cast a few spells to ensure they were not recognized or disturbed by onlookers. The trio quickly made their way to the shop of the familiar wand crafter.

Opening the door Harry noticed that the shop had been cleaned and repaired since Daphne got her wand. Walking into the shop the familiar crafter soon appeared from a back room.

"Hello..." he started until he saw Harry and Daphne. "Oh… it's you…" he sighed. "What can I help you with my Lord?"

Harry smiled and gestured to Hermione, "my friend would like a crafted wand."

Hermione had broken from the group and was looking at the various ingredients along the wall. "But she's a…" the wand crafter started to say. Harry narrowed his eyes and moved to pull out his wand as Hermione growled.

"Fine," the crafter surrendered. "This way… miss Granger." The older wizard lead Hermione to the left side of the shop. Along the wall was various jars filled with exotic materials. "Go through these jars and mark which ones you feel connected to." He instructed.

Hermione looked from the crafter to the ingredients along the wall. "I have a question first if you don't mind." She said. "What benefit is a crafted wand? As far as I can tell my current wand works perfectly."

"Ollivanders wands are excellent." He said. "However, like every wand is different. Every witch or wizards magic is different. His wands match with your greatest magical attribute. But not all. A crafted wand can do just that. With more woods and cores a perfect match to your magic can be created. Resulting in a more pleasing wand."

"I see…" Hermione hummed looking at a core jar. Inside was a foul looking substance that looked like moldy slime. "But are they any stronger?"

"Not exactly. The wand merely draws strength from the wizard." He said evenly.

Hermione nodded and started to go through the core materials. Before she did she insisted that the names be disguised. Hermione did not want to know what was in a jar to influence her, if such a thing was possible. Also, it was more exciting, only knowing what you had until the end.

Finished with the jars Hermione moved to the woods and repeated the process. She also asked that the names be hidden from her. It only took her a few moments to find a wood that she felt attracted to. She ended up with three ingredients. The first was a silvery white string that was quite sticky. The second core material was golden hairs. The third jar was a liquid. It was a deadly orange color.

While she did not know what they were exactly, she already knew she would be happy with her new wand. More so with the wood she picked out. It was a long block of jet black wood with thin silver streaks. It made her feel a small measure of happiness since the attack. She was on the outside looking in and it was ok. She would learn all she could now, regardless if it was of the so called light or dark. She would master all the magic she could. Then she would put down those who thought of her as inferior, and prove the world wrong.

After handing the ingredients to the crafter he disappeared to a back room to make her wand. It took him nearly an hour to finish it leaving the trio waiting. When he returned he handed Hermione her new wand and knew it was hers as a deep crimson aura flared around her as the wand bonded to her. The wand was long and tapered down to a deadly point. Her hand gripped around the smooth recessed handle. In a way it resembled a jouster's lance. All along the wood was a design of a spider web. A red hourglass shape panted in a recess along the hilt.

"What is it made from?" she asked with reverence admiring the work.

"The wood is ebony." He smiled "well suited to combat magic and transfiguration. It is said to find those with the courage to be who they want and not stray from themselves." She held up the wand to the light. Admiring the silver patters in the wood which now seemed to shine. It gave the wood an intimidating and demanding presence.

"The first core you chose was Acromantula web. A dark core said to favor deception and control. Particularly gifted with the imperious curse." The crafter continued to explain. "The second was hair of a sphinx. The third was boomslang venom, very powerful for transfiguration. You, Miss Granger, have a wand that should be immensely good for transfiguration and combat magic's. With a peculiar affinity for spells of the mind."

Harry paid the man and the trio was off once again leaving the crafter alone for a change. It was not long before the group had returned to Potter manor. Harry and Daphne left to enjoy some time alone to talk and discuss his plans. Hermione had returned to the library to learn more magic. Her new wand intrigued her. She felt it draw more power from her then her previous wand. She couldn't wait to test it out…

**A/N:** Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed!


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